Report on Grand Prize Selection Open-Committee Meeting of New Cosmos of Photography 2010 (the 33rd competition)
Overview comments of judges
The judges gave their feedback after the award presentation ceremony. Omori started off by commenting: "Choosing was difficult." He also explained that the discussion went in a variety of directions, and "During the discussion I thought about such things as whether there are any good photos, and what things are new, what things are old, and is it glamorous or not." He also said: "I remembered the time when I won the award." And he consoled the award winner by saying: "How you choose to live from now on will be difficult, but that there will certainly be fun things ahead." Sanai said: "I believe that everyone did well." While praising the award winner he said: "As I have also won the award, this selection venue has the feeling of being in my family home." He analyzed the selection results and said: "The reason for Sato being selected is possibly because her work had the ambience of someone's family home." Sawaragi stated: "In deciding the Grand Prize, there were a lot of discussions, and that this was because one did not stand out from the rest." He also said: "The reason Ms. Sato was selected was that amidst all of this, she gave a talk that drew one's attention, and I felt it was a good thing that I was able to see that she was connected to photography in a variety of ways." Shimizu said: "Deciding who gets the Grand Prize is like a form of gambling. The reason for this being is that there is almost no difference from the honorable mention. So, it can be said that Grand Prize winner Sato has a heavy responsibility. From here on she will have to persevere. I am looking forward to her next step." Ninagawa divulged that in the process of the discussions, there was only a narrow margin in the assessment between Saito, Sato, and Taniguchi, and she pointed out: "There was no difference between the Excellence Award and the Grand Prize." Ninagawa said to all the award winners: "Including the Honorable Mention winners, the problem will be from now on. As anyone can make a leap, I want to you to do your best!"
