Dubai, UAE; 27 February 2019: Supporting the local photographic communities in 62 countries across the globe, the World Photography Organisation and Sony today announced the winners of the 2019 National Awards. Included in the list is Paul-Vlad Epure as recipient of the 2019 United Arab Emirates National Award.

 

Part of the prestigious and internationally renowned Sony World Photography Awards, the National Awards program demonstrates Sony’s commitment to supporting local photographic talent by recognising the work of local photographers and promoting it on a global scale.

 

Epure’s image Endless Horizons was selected anonymously as the single best image taken by any photographer living in the United Arab Emirates, entered to the Open competition of the Sony World Photography Awards.

 

Epure is a Romanian engineer, who lives and works in Dubai. Alongside his interests of playing the violin and fine art, Epure is an eager photographer. This spectacular image was taken in Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. “Never before have I seen such a vast, wild and almost untouched territory” Epure explains. The photographers’ enthusiasm for photography stems from reading the National Geographic magazine when he was a teenager.

 

Speaking of his success of winning the United Arab Emirates National Award, Epure states: “I remember staring for a good few minutes at the email, going back and forth through the text. A carousel of flashbacks invaded my eyesight for it was a dream of mine that finally became true”.

 

As National Award winner, Epure receives the latest digital imaging equipment from Sony. The winning work will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition in London from April 18 – May 6 and published in the 2019 Awards’ book.

 

Produced by the World Photography Organisation, the internationally acclaimed Sony World Photography Awards are one of the most important fixtures on the global photographic calendar. The Awards are now in their 12th year of partnership with headline sponsor Sony and consist of four competitions in total: Professional (for a body of works), Open (for a single image), Student (for academic institutions) and Youth (for 12-19 year olds).  

 

The success is announced today alongside the winners all 62 National Awards, and the 10 categories of the Awards’ Open competition.  The shortlist for the Awards’ Professional and Student competitions will be revealed March 26. The overall and Professional category winners of the Awards will be announced April 17.