Thomas Mukoya & Thandiwe Muriu Shine At The First Kenya Photography Awards
Kenya’s first professional photography awards went down yesterday at a gala night held at the Kenyatta International Conference Center.
Organized by the Photography Association of Kenya and PAWA 254 the awards recorded over 1200 entries in seven different categories – news, daily life, sports, nature, portraiture, creative and most promising young photographer.
Thomas Mukoya bagged the overall Kenya Photographer Award after winning the Sports Category and coming in second in the Daily Category. He took home Ksh 325,000 in total winning after winning Ksh. 100,000 in the sports category and 25,000 as Daily Life runner’s up.
“Mukoya’s work stood out for its quality, thought and craft. He is a worthy winner of this inaugural award,” noted South African award winning Chief Judge Greg Marinovich
Thandiwe Muriu also bagged two awards after winning the Portraiture Photographer of the year and Young Photographer of the year.
Presenting the award at the event, Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga, a photography enthusiast, noted that the awards were formulated by young creative minds to nurture, appreciate and recognize excellence in communication through the language of photography.
“It is also a platform to showcase the best of contemporary Kenyan photography as well as encourage professionalism in the discipline,” added Chief Justice, Dr. Mutunga.
“We recorded very few entries from women .We encourage more female photographers to venture into this field as a full time career,” Njeri Mwangi Team Leader, Photographers Association of Kenya.
Other winners in the awards included
- News Photographer of the year 2013 –Georgina Goodwin
- Daily Life Photographer of the year 2013-David Mutua
- Nature Photographer of the year 2013- Karim Kara
- Portraiture Photographer of the year 2013- Thandiwe Muiru
- Creative Photographer of the year 2013 -Joe Kiragu
- Sports Photographer of the year 2013 –Thomas Mukoya
- Young Photographer of the year 2013 -Thandiwe Muriu and Louis Nderi
- Photographer of the year 2013-Thomas Mukoya
The Kenya Photography Awards is the first event of its kind in the country in the photography industry and had prizes up to Kshs. 1m that were up for grabs.
