SPIRIT OF PLACE — Contest Results

Portfolio | Photo Single Image | Video | Youth Photo | Youth Video

Maine Media Workshops + College is pleased to announce the winners of its Spirit of Place photo and video competition. More than 3,800 images and videos were submitted to 11 competition categories from image-makers around the world. Over $25,000 in prizes will be awarded in a special ceremony on June 7 at Maine Media Workshops + College, along with an exhibition in the Maine Media Gallery in Rockport Village.

In addition to landscape, seascape, people/culture, portfolio, and youth categories, the competition also included a category devoted to Midcoast Maine. Images and videos submitted for that prize will be donated to create an archive hosted by the Penobscot Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce and available to businesses and nonprofits in the community to promote the midcoast region.

The 11 contest winners are a diverse group of professional and recreational image-makers who hail from six different states, and as far away as Denmark, Germany, and Israel. “We are very pleased with the response to this contest from people all over the U.S. and many other countries around the world and impressed by the quality of images and videos selected by our jurors,” said Meg Weston, president of Maine Media Workshops + College.

Contest Winners

Video, Grand Prize: Kwaku Alston, Venice Beach, CA	Photo, Portfolio Grand Prize: John Hirsch, Roslindale, MA
Video, Midcoast Maine: Derek Kimball, Portland, ME	Photo, Landscape: Joseph Mullan, Wilmington, DE
Video, General: Christian Biernath-Wüpping, Sonderborg, Denmark	Photo, Seascape: Doron Talmi, Herzliya, Israel
	Photo, People/Culture: Sandra White, Bath, ME
Photo, Youth Grand Prize: Kenan Lynch, Grantsboro, NC	Photo, Abstract Expression: Jim Blackstock, Berlin, Germany
Video, Youth Grand Prize: Noah LePage, New Sharon, ME	Photo, Midcoast Maine: Pamela Heemskerk, Damascus, MD

Contest Honorable Mentions

Photo Single Image Honorable Mention

Youth Photo Honorable Mention

Video Honorable Mention

Sandy Atkins

Pamela Heemskerk

Ray Ewing

Scott B Smith

Bob Avakian

Robert Moran

Krista Connerly &
Tracy Featherstone

Moe Chen

Takashi Fukuda

Michaele W. Ellison

Bernhardur Gudmundsson

Evy Huppert

Gilbert Riley

Nicole Wolf

Eric Landes

Jo Ann Walters

Diane Kaye

Michael Kurgansky

Duncan Oja

Carol Bachofner

Allison Jarek

Kathy Marryat

Jeffery Becton

Peggy Braun

Susan Cardona

Elizabeth M. Claffey

Bill Harbin

Brad Johnson

Janice Nagle

Thomas Sabbatini

Sherre Wilson-Liljegren

Deb Telatovich

Adam Fisher

Winky Lewis

Joseph Mullan

Dillon Coleman

Jessica Conant

Jaclyn Hammond

Olivia Jernigan

Kenan Lynch

Regina Ferrara

Caroline Albertson

Gus Baganz

Asha Bouverat

Hannah Drabin

Olivia Eckerson

Regina Ferrara

Margaret Fisher

Virginia Laurita

Abigail Loughlin

Riley Palmer

Christopher Lehmann

Ryan Scura

Edoardo De Armas

Jad Davenport

Youth Video Honorable Mention

Eliot Grigo

An esteemed panel of nine jurors representing the fine art, documentary, film, and television professions selected winners. “I was struck by the versatility and expansive points of view that suffused the work I reviewed,” said Norton Museum of Art Curator Tim Wride. “The portfolio submissions, in particular, were thoughtful and inventive, often coupled with a risky sense of depth and complication.” Ben Fowlie, founder and director of the Camden International Film Festival, noted “the quality of the work was exceptional, and provided a glimpse inside both local and global communities.”

Jurors

Stacey Baker, Associate Photo Editor, New York Times Magazine

Roger Dell, Director of Education, Farnsworth Art Museum

Charlotte Dixon, Artist and Educator

Edward Earle, Curator of Collections, International Center of Photography

Ben Fowlie, Founder & Director, Camden International Film Festival

Patricia Luchsinger, Producer, NBC Today

Jessica May, Curator of Contemporary & Modern Art, Portland Museum of Art

Laura Ozment Schenck, Executive Producer of Television & Special Projects, Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Tim B. Wride, William & Sarah Ross Soter Curator of Photography, Norton Museum of Art

The contest was sponsored by B&H Photo Video & Pro Audio and Blurb, and ran from October 2012 to February 2013. The competition’s award ceremony will be held on June 7, kicking off a round of festivities celebrating Maine Media Workshops + College’s 40^th Anniversary. Contest winners will have their work exhibited at the Maine Media Gallery in Rockport, as well as in an online gallery and eBook. A portion of the contest’s proceeds will fund scholarships for Maine Media students.

Founded in 1973 in Rockport, Maine as Maine Photographic Workshops, Maine Media Workshops + College has evolved into a creative center for visual storytellers across many disciplines. Offering immersive photography, filmmaking and multimedia courses in one-day, one and two-week workshops, a one-year professional certificate program and a three-year MFA degree program, Maine Media attracts more than 1,600 students each year from all over the world.