A Kenyan photographer, Allan Gichigi, has today, 4th Feb 2014, been announced on the shortlist of the prestigious 2014 Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s leading photography competitions. The photographer has been shortlisted in the Split Second category of the Open competition – designed for photography enthusiasts and judged on a single image. Gichigi’s image, titled “Capture Kenya,” was taken at Lake Victoria and perfectly captures a fisherman casting his net and was taken during the Safaricom ‘Capture Kenya‘ tour this past December.
The photograph was selected by a panel of photography industry experts from nearly 140,000 submissions by photographers from 166 countries, the highest number of entries in the awards’ seven year history.
Gichigi’s shortlisted image will go on show at Somerset House, London, from 1-18 May as part of the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition.
The image will also go forward to be considered as the winner of the Open Split Second category. The winners of this and the other nine Open categories will be announced on 18 March 2014.
Each category winner is set to receive the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony.
The ten Open category winners will then go forward to be considered for the Sony World Photography Awards Open Photographer of the Year and Youth Photographer of the Year titles, to be announced at a gala ceremony in London on 30 April 2014 with the the overall winner getting a large sum of 5,000 USD (Approx. 425,000 KES).
The 14 Professional category winners of the awards and the coveted L’Iris D’Or/ Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year title and 25,000 USD (Approx. 2.125 Million KES) prize will also be announced at the London ceremony.
The image has been used by Safaricom Limited in their 2014 calendar as the official image for the month of April.
