Qatar Museums Announces Winners of Second Edition of Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Awards

Doha, March 29 (QNA) - Qatar Museums has announced the winners of the Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Project Award and the Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Single Image Award, annual competitions open to photographers from the Western Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. The annual photography competitions are an initiative of Tasweer Photo Festival Qatar, which aims amplify diverse photographic practices and dialogue. The awards are dedicated to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani (1966-2014), one of Qatars greatest collectors who largely shaped the Museum of Islamic Arts extraordinary collection. The Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Project Award is an annual grant award that supports photographers proposals for the development or completion of a photographic project. The awardees are jury-selected and each receive a grant award of QAR 30,000 to support the development or initiation of their in-development or new photographic project. In October 2021, Tasweer announced an open call for applications for the annual grant and formed a jury comprising photographer and editor, Sueraya Shaheen; independent researcher, Kristine Khouri; Qatar Photographic Societys Sheikha Shaikha Al-Thani; Charlotte Cotton, artistic director of Tasweer; Tasweer director, Khalifa Ahmad Al Obaidly; and senior curator Maryam Hassan Al-Thani. The winners of the 2022 Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Award Project are: Reem Falaknaz, Abdo Shanan, Salih Basheer, Fethi Sahraoui, Mouneb Nassar and Fatema Bint Ahmad. The Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Single Image Award is an annual open call for a single image that best represents the photographers experience and personal narrative. Juror Roisin Tapponi from Habibi Collective an open access resource supporting the filmmaking and video practice of women in South-West Asia and North Africa selected Aya Muhammed, Muhammed Mostafa, Ryan Brand, Adriane de Souza, Dima Assad, Hallouli Mohamed Ameur, Khalid Alrawahi, Salman Faris, Hani Hamdan Al-Sulaimani, Raghda Khairy and Murtadha Adnan Al-Hassan. "For the second year running, we have received profoundly striking entries from aspiring and established photographers. It is a great pleasure for Tasweer to able to recognise the immense creative talent of these photographers through the Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Awards and to provide them with a vital platform to elevate their work and stories," said Al Obaidly. "We look forward to getting to know and supporting all of the incredible photographers we are celebrating in this second year of Tasweers annual Sheikh Saoud Al Thani Awards cycle. The responsibility to spread the word and the appreciation of their photographs drives us and we look forward to honouring these talented image-makers this year and at the Spring 2023 Tasweer Festival," said Charlotte Cotton. The original Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani Award was first announced in 2000 as a platform to support photographers. The award has now been relaunched by Tasweer with the support of the Saoud bin Mohammed Al-Thani Foundation. (QNA)