JURY

Members of the Jury review entries and judge the images based on artistic merit, originality, subject, style and ultimately decide the winners.

Who Votes and How are the Votes Counted?

All members of the Jury vote on the images. Votes are tallied using the consensus-based Borda Count Method. Judges rank images in order of preference with each rank having a certain number of points. Statistical weight is placed on the position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, Honorable) given by the judges. The image with the most points is the winner.

Honorary Judging Panel

CHRISTIE'S - New York

Laura Paterson, Specialist, Department of Photographs

Laura Paterson joined Christie's in 1994 and is responsible for appraisals and estimating photographic works for auction. Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's is the world's leading art business with global sales in 2006 of $4.67 billion. Prior to joining Christie's New York, Ms. Paterson worked at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and earned a Master of Arts degree in Art History in 1982 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management in 1990, both from the University of Edinburgh.

SAATCHI & SAATCHI - Singapore

Richard Copping, Creative Director

Richard Copping was educated at St. Edmunds college in England and went on to complete a BA in graphics and design at Middlesex College London before moving to JWT, London as an Art Director in 1997. He moved to Singapore in 2000 working at BBDO an Bates before moving to SAATCHI & SAATCHI. His work has won in international shows at Cannes, D&AD, Clio, AdFest, Singapore CCA's and The One Show.

ESQUIRE - London

David McKendrick, Art Director
Henny Manley, Director of Photography

David McKendrick is the award-winning Art Director of Esquire magazine. Since joining Esquire in September 2007, he has won numerous industry awards including the Designer of the Year (Consumer Magazine category) at the PPA Awards 2008. David previously worked as art editor of the Bespoke department at Wallpaper magazine and as a Senior Designer at the fashionable design company, North, whose clients included the Barbican Art Gallery, Arcadia Group and Fourth Floor. David began his career as a Designer at Graphic Thought Facility, one of the most innovative design companies in London. The group produced work for The Tate Gallery, Booth-Clibborn Editions, the Design Museum, the V&A and Habitat, among others.

PHILLIPS de PURY & COMPANY - Sydney

Genevieve Janvrin, International Specialist, Department of Photographs

Phillips was founded in London in 1796 by Harry Phillips formerly senior clerk to James Christie. During his first year of business Phillips conducted 12 successful auctions and soon the business was holding sales for some of the most distinguished collectors of the day, including Marie Antoinette, Beau Brummel and Napoleon. In 1999, the company was bought by Bernard Arnault, the chairman of Moet Hennessey (LVMH). Shortly after the transaction, Mr. Arnault merged with the esteemed private art dealers, Simon de Pury and Daniela Luxembourg. In 2002, de Pury & Luxembourg took majority control of the company and in 2003, Simon de Pury moved the headquarters to the art district of Chelsea, New York. It is in this space today, where Simon de Pury, his partners and team of specialists are dedicated to the company's unique approach to the auction market.

TASCHEN - UK

Julius Wiedemann, Editor

Julius Wiedemann was born and raised in Brazil. After studying graphic design and marketing, he moved to Japan where he worked in Tokyo as art editor for digital and design magazines. Since joining TASCHEN, he has been building up the digital and media collection with titles such the popular Advertising Now series and TASCHEN's 1000 Favorite Websites.

AMSTERDAM WORLDWIDE - The Netherlands

Richard Gorodecky, Executive Creative Director

Formerly known as StrawberryFrog, Amsterdam Worldwide has created highly original and engaging work for some of the world's most respected brands, including Chevrolet, Coca Cola, Heineken, IKEA, Mitsubishi and Sony Ericsson. Amsterdam Worldwide's multi-national and multi-disciplinary strategic, creative, digital, media and management teams work in collaboration with clients and agency partners to create highly effective, integrated pan-European and global campaigns. For more than nine years the agency has built passionate customer relationships, delivering results for clients who think big and are open to the innovative and unconventional.

BFN - BEROEPS FOTOGRAFEN NEDERLAND - The Netherlands

Albert Sier, Chairman

BFN - Professional Photographers Association of the Netherlands, is the oldest and leading association for professional photographers in the Netherlands. Founded in 1919, BFN has represented its associated members for 90 years and brings professional photographers together, promotes photography, stimulates creative development of its members, and protects their rights. BFN provides education, information and business skills to the Netherlands local and national photography networks. Chairman, Albert Sier, is an industry veteran with over 25 years experience.

GETTY IMAGES - Los Angeles & New York

Amy Steigbigel, Director of Photography (NY)
Charlie Holland, Director of Photography (LA)

Every day people around the world see Getty Images on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, within multinational advertising campaigns, on the covers of best-selling books, in motion pictures and everywhere else images are used to tell a story. Gettyimages.com serves an average of 2.3 million unique visitors each month with over 2.3 billion thumbnails and 161 million page views. Nearly 100 percent of the company's visual content is delivered digitally. In 2005, American Photo Magazine acknowledged the company's commitment to the photography industry, naming Getty Images' co-founders Jonathan Klein and Mark Getty as number one of "The 100 Most Important People in Photography."

EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY

Audrey Jonckheer, Director, Worldwide Public Relations

With the slogan "you press the button, we do the rest," George Eastman put the first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers in 1888. In so doing, he made a cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone. Since that time, the Eastman Kodak Company has led the way with an abundance of new products and processes and continues to expand the ways images touch people's daily lives. The company ranks as a premier multinational corporation, with a brand recognized in virtually every country around the world.

FOX BROADCASTING COMPANY - Los Angeles

Diane Cooper, Senior Director, Photo Publicity

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL

Christos "Stos" DeVaris, Design Director

As Design Director for the National Geographic Channel (NGC), Christos "Stos" DeVaris is responsible for the network's overall graphic design efforts. Stos works to ensure a consistent style across all NGC platforms including programming, print, outdoor, and on-air promotion. He oversees all work handled by an internal staff of NGC designers as well as outside agencies, making sure all graphics are consistent with NGC's re-branding initiative "Dare To Explore." DeVaris comes to NGC from The Food Network, where he served for three years as director, on-air design, creative services. He led the network through a brand redesign process and oversaw all on-air graphic needs for marketing and affiliate sales. From 2000-2001, DeVaris designed and animated on-air promos and interstitials as the senior designer, creative services for Oxygen. From 1998-1999, he was a digital animation coordinator for MTV Animation and an animator for Nick Digital/Nickelodeon. DeVaris has also designed and animated graphics packages for TLC and ESPN. He has won two ProMax Awards and a BDA Award.

WIEDEN+KENNEDY - Shanghai

Daniel Lim, Creative Director

Wieden + Kennedy is an independent, creatively led advertising agency with offices in New York, Portland, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Shanghai. Specializing in that intersection between product, consumer and business. Award winning campaigns include NIKE, ESPN Coca Cola and HONDA. Wieden + Kennedy was created to be a different type of agency: one where people come to do the best work of their careers. Daniel Lim is Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy -Shanghai.

NY ARTS MAGAZINE - New York

Julia Saenz, Art Director

Available monthly at over 2,000 locations, NY Arts Magazine is the fastest growing arts magazine in the US. Distributed to galleries, curators, collectors, dealers, museums, art schools, art fairs, corporations, foundations, art patrons and to over 800 private Manhattan galleries, this prestigious international publication has a monthly readership of 65,000.

CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY - Miami

Jessica Hoffman, Senior Art Producer

Jessica Hoffman joined Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Art Buying Department in 2000 as one of the agencies first hires. Since that time she has played a significant role in growing and shaping how art buying is done at the agency. Jessica has worked with many of CP+B's top clients over the years including Bell, Giro, Shimano, Burger King, Virgin Atlantic, Gap, Ikea, American Legacy Foundation, Mini, and Molson. Jessica began her career in production working for photographer's Jim Erickson and Jimmy Williams. She contributes to many industry related articles including PDN, Creativity, Shots and Shutterbug. Jessica wrote the photography syllabus for the Miami Ad School.

PARIS-ART - Paris

Andre Rouille, Director

André Rouillé is director of the vibrant French art portal Paris Art, dedicated to covering (almost) all the contemporary art in Paris. Although focused on events taking place in Paris, the Paris-art.com database contains international references, with over 9,500 images, 2,500 artists, and 10,000 articles, announcements, bibliographies, interviews, etc.

VOGUE.COM UK

Nicole Frankel, Senior Picture Editor

The world's most important and influential magazine brand, Vogue stands alone as "The" fashion Bible. No other magazine combines beauty, style, glamour, design, fashion and contemporary culture in such an inspiring mix. If it's in Vogue, it's in vogue.

CHANNEL 4 - London

Cristina Fedi, ART4

The Channel 4 art collection consists of works by emerging artists including Mark Titchner, Michael Fullerton and Shez Dawood. Channel 4 works with well-known artists to identify the most interesting new talent to show within Channel 4. Each artist recommends a few young artists whose work is exhibited on loan in the Channel 4 building. At the end of a three month term, Channel 4 staff get a chance to vote which works they would like to buy to add to the permanent collection. Channel 4 has a valued reputation for challenging programmes that explore contemporary arts across a wide range of forms. ART4 brings that spirit right to the heart of the Corporation's daily life, helping create a working environment that reacts and refreshes what we do, while supporting new artists and, in the longer term, bringing the best of new contemporary art to a wider public in galleries across the country.

PHAIDON PUBLISHING GROUP - Tokyo

Yuki Miyasaka, Publicity Asia

Phaidon Press is an international publisher of books on the visual arts with offices in New York, London, Paris and Berlin, and distributors worldwide. The company was founded in Vienna in 1923 by Dr. Bela Horowiz and Ludwig Goldscheider and named after "Phaedo", Socrates' pupil who spoke on the immortality of the soul. Phaidon's large format art books first emerged in 1936 with high-quality plates on Van Gogh, Botticelli, and the French Impressionists. In 1995, Phaidon published the 16th edition of The Story of Art which has sold over six million copies to date and been translated into more than 30 languages. Today Phaidon books are recognized worldwide for the highest quality of content, design, and production and continue to be so innovative and beautiful that as Nigel Spivy points out in his fuller account of Phaidon's history, "a readership is rightly disposed to buy a Phaidon book for no other reason than that Phaidon has produced it".

COLORS MAGAZINE, THE BENETTON GROUP - Italy

Enrico Bossan, Director

On sale in 40 countries, 3 editions, published in 4 languages, an Internet site that has won a record number of hits and critical acclaim: COLORS is a quarterly magazine that talks to young people all around the world. Established in 1991, from an idea of Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani, under the direction of Tibor Kalman, with the premise that diversity is positive but that all cultures have equal value. Pictures are, above all else, COLORS' expressive medium: a method that is universal and reaches the greatest number of people with a strong, immediate impact. Over the years COLORS has become a unique point of reference in the global publishing world. It has stirred public attention to topics and themes originating in areas of the world that other publications seldom write about with depth and freshness.

STILLS GALLERY - Australia

Bronwyn Rennex, Director

STILLS is a leading Australian gallery with a focus on contemporary photography and multimedia art. The gallery, established in 1991, is housed in a converted warehouse with a large exhibition and print room space in Paddington, Sydney's main gallery precinct. STILLS represents both emerging and established artists, and has a long history of fostering artists who work at the forefront of contemporary photo media practice. The gallery's annual program consists of nine exhibitions. STILLS also organizes artist talks throughout the year to promote discussion and understanding of the exhibited work. STILLS is a member of the Australian Commercial Gallery Association (ACGA), and has regularly collaborated with Australian and international public galleries on touring exhibitions. These have included "Photographica Australis", exhibited at ARCO Madrid and touring throughout Asia, "Rencontres d'Arles", touring through Europe and "Shimai - Sisters" touring in Japan and Australia.

DAZED & CONFUSED - London

Sylvia Farago, Photographic Director

World beating fashion, brilliant photography and illustration, unrivalled music and film coverage, headline grabbing events, distribution in over 40 countries and admirers and imitators across the globe - Dazed & Confused has come a long way since it's first faltering steps in the early 90s. Today, the group can boast a book publishing division responsible for numerous acclaimed photographic books and a production company Dazed Film & TV. Still 100 per cent independent in ownership and in spirit, Dazed & Confused is perhaps the most influential monthly magazine in the world. Far from resting on its reputation, Dazed & Confused is assisting the next wave of talented contributors to seek out the fresh new music, fashion, film, art, literature, ideas, imagery and opinions and deliver them to a new generation of switched-on, intelligent, aware and influential individuals.

525 ART - Montevideo

Isidra Delfino, Director
Diego Silva, Director
Alvaro Diaz, Director

525 ART is a contemporary art gallery that exhibits and sells original artworks and photography on the Internet. Its website is a proprietary and friendly tool to buy original art online. From photography, painting, drawing, sculpture, graphic art works, video-art to assemblages and installations their catalogue shows a careful balance between languages and techniques, adequate to contemporary visual art. 525 ART showcases the finest artists and the best of new upcoming talent and attempts to leave aside the distinction between fine and minor arts, established and emerging artists and aims to go beyond the borders in contemporary art.

FOTOGRAFISK CENTER - Copenhagen

Lars Schwander, Founder

Fotografisk Center, established 1996, is an independent organization, located in Kunstforeningen's renowned building on Gammel Strand in the very heart of Copenhagen. An emphasis on both classic and contemporary artists of both Danish and international origin include Yoko Ono, Man Ray, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Gisèle Freund, Alfred Guzzetti, Josef Koudelka, Henri Lartique, Sally Mann, Duane Michals, Inge Morath, Georg Oddner, Viggo Rivad, Christer Strömholm, Lars Tunbjörk and Bruce Gilden. Adjacent to the gallery, the Center has a well stocked bookstore that specializes in photography. The store features major international publications, limited edition artists books as well as more than 20 in-house publications that accompany exhibitions. Mr Lars Schwander is also artistic advisor for the Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden.

MUSEE DE L'ELYSEE - Lausanne, Switzerland

William A. Ewing, Director

Musée de l'Elysée is located in Lausanne, Switzerland and was founded in 1985 by Charles-Henri Favrod. It has eight showrooms distributed on four stages, a bookstore and a room of reading and collections of more than 100,000 works. By undertaking important research tasks, various collaborations with the universities and other institutions, the museum has acquired many works of contemporary photographers and earned an international reputation for presenting historical exposures of themes and retrospectives by famous photographers as well as young contemporary talents.

AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY - Australia

Dr. Bert Hoveling, President

The Australian Photographic Society (APS) has a membership of 2,000 professional and amateur photographers. Dr. Bert Hoveling was Chairman of APSCON 2006, the annual APS National Photographic Convention and also the immediate past President of the "VIGEX International Salon of Photography" which receives about 2,000 images every two years from over 30 countries. His personal photographic interests range from large format darkroom and digital images to modern travel and creative digital images. In 2005 he was listed in the top ten overseas photographers of the "PSA Who's Who" photo travel prints listing and is also listed in the photojournalism category listing.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE

Jason Toh, Assistant Curator/Head of Photography

Jason Toh is the Assistant Curator and heads the photography department at the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore's oldest museum. Distinguishing itself through vibrant festivals and events, the Museum's programs unleash new creative possibilities in culture and heritage. Designed to be the people's museum, the museum prides itself on introducing cutting edge and varied ways of presenting history to redefine the conventional museum experience. With a rich history dating back to 1881, the National Museum building was officially re-opened December 7th, 2006 after a 3 year redevelopment program.

PEKIN FINE ARTS - Beijing

Meg Maggio, Director

Pekin Fine Arts is a Beijing-based private consultancy and art gallery established by Meg Maggio in November 2005. Ms. Maggio is a 20-year China resident, arts writer, curator and director of Pekin Fine Arts gallery in Beijing. Ms. Maggio acts as advisor to leading museums, corporations and individuals on collecting and exhibiting contemporary art. With over 600 square meters of exhibition space designed by Beijing-based artist/architect Ai Weiwei, Pekin Fine Arts strives to represent and to promote the best and most innovative contemporary artists from Asia. In addition to hosting a wide range of gallery exhibitions in the Beijing gallery, Pekin Fine Arts plays an important role in promoting Asian artists internationally. Artists represented by Pekin Fine Arts have had exhibitions and/or works collected by art institutions such as Mori Art Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Musee Pompidou, MOMA - NYC, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, JP Morgan Chase Art Collection, Venice Biennale, Arles, UBS Art Collection and Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art.

L.A. GALERIE - Frankfurt & Beijing

Lothar Albrecht, Founder

Lothar Albrecht established L.A. Galerie in 1990 as a showcase for international contemporary art. In fifteen years of progressive art mediation, the gallery has built a strong reputation for "discovering" new talents and exhibiting the finest contemporary photography. The list of international artists reflects the international program of the gallery. Collaborating with emerging artists and established photographers, L.A. Galerie has organized and sponsored many of artist's catalogues and exhibitions. Following the continued success of the Frankfurt based gallery, L.A. Galerie Beijing was opened 2003 and continues to be active in China where the gallery exhibits international and young Chinese artists. The gallery works with private collectors, art institutions and attends art fairs around the world from Miami to Madrid.

TAPPER-POPERMAJER ART GALLERY - Malmo

Hans Tapper, Founder

The Tapper-Popermajer Art Gallery has emerged as one of the most respected and trusted contemporary art galleries in the dynamic Oeresund region of Sweden. Through active dialogue with private clients who seek investments and collector's items, to companies wishing to convey a distinct message through their display of fine-art objects, the gallery has built a strong reputation. By attending major art fairs and through joint collaborations with a large body of artists, respected art galleries and institutions, the Tapper-Popermajer Art Gallery has promoted some of the finest talent in contemporary art. The comprehensive exhibition range includes international art collections, photography, sculpture, painting, graphics, and other forms of artistic expression. Every year in addition to the permanent collections of the gallery, ten to twelve larger exhibitions are presented, showing works of the avant-garde and upcoming younger artists.

WEBER SHANDWICK - Sydney

Katrina Foxe, Marketing Manager

Weber Shandwick maintains the largest public relations network in the world - measured both in terms of number of employees and geographical coverage with more than 100 offices in 65 countries. Clients include Best Buy, MASTERCARD, H&R Block, Honeywell and the Internal Revenue Service. Katrina Foxe is the Marketing Service Manager for Weber Shandwick in the Asia Pacific region, directly coordinating all multi-country initiatives and providing counsel for local level activity. Previously Katrina worked in London at MORI, the UK's largest market research organization as a designer, creating publication advertisements. Weber Shandwick relies on a clear focus and the finest talent in the industry to produce memorable public relations, earning the agency - PRWeek Agency of the Year 2005.

WONDERLAND MAGAZINE - Denmark

Anne Sophie Hardinger, Editor

Wonderland is a Danish magazine on contemporary art and design. Based on the sheer love of visual creativity, Wonderland was founded in the summer of 2005, by former students of the Graphic Arts Institute of Copenhagen. Since then Wonderland has served as a platform for established as well as upcoming artists who exhibit their artwork in Wonderland's section called Uncensored Creative Outburst. With its high quality in production and design, combined with the fact that the magazine is distributed for free, Wonderland has quickly become a pioneer in the Danish publishing industry. Wonderland back issues are already becoming collectors' items and Wonderland issue #2 was nominated for best publication at the Papyrus Award 2006.

MUSEE DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE - Bruxelles

Xavier Canonne, Director