New Cosmos of Photography 2012 Grand Prize selection committee meeting report
[ Award presentation ceremony ]
After the presentations and the questions were over, the judges moved to a different room to hold a discussion to decide the Grand Prize winner. There was a heated discussion, and judging took 40 minutes.
At the award presentation ceremony, Junko Kimura, general manager of CSR promotion division first presented a certificate and a financial grant to Yu-ki Abe on behalf of the 20 artists as the Honorable Mention representative. Next, a certificate and prize were presented to each of the five Excellence Award winners.
Next was the Grand Prize winner announcement. As tension mounted in the hall, Yosuke Harada’s name was read out.
Harada’s expression of surprise was delayed for a moment after the announcement. He was awarded a certificate and a grant, as well as an EOS 5D Mark III as a supplementary prize.
In addition, 2011 Grand Prize winner Maya Akashika had these words of encouragement, “The Grand Prize became a base for my lifestyle and my heart. Since winning, I am glad that photography has become even more of an everyday, usual thing for me. Please create your work freely from now on.”
After Yosuke Harada’s acceptance speech, Minoru Shimizu gave a review as the judges’ representative, and the event closed to applause.
Greetings of the Grand Prize winner: Yosuke Harada
Thank you very much for selecting me as the Grand Prize winner. Photography has become a part of my life, and I think it would be great if it becomes more like breathing, and I can get used to it as something that is a matter of course. As the respected judges mentioned, without becoming old-fashioned, I would like to continue with power and energy. Thank you.
[ Review : Minoru Shimizu ]
As you can tell from the length of time taken to judge, there was an extremely narrow margin between the five pieces, the vote was split, and we had a heated discussion. There were a large number of unknown and known quantities, and we were not able to select from either of these, and regrettably we did not have the courage to select something spectacular for the future. As this is a major award, after considering the power that cannot be described in words, popularity, or more specifically, the unknown quantities, we decided on the most influential candidate this time.
We would like to see Harada attain the kind of power to express his message to the world through photos. We would like you to shoot photos dynamically, so that they even reach people around the world who do not know you, or have any interest in you. Congratulations.
