Judges

Louise Fedotov-Clements
Director, FORMAT International Photography Festival & Artistic Director, QUAD 

Louise is the Artistic Director of QUAD, a centre for contemporary art, film and new technologies in Derby UK, and the Director of FORMAT International Photography Festival, which she founded in 2004.

An independent curator since 1998, she has initiated many commissions, publications, mass participation and exhibitions. A guest curator for numerous international exhibitions and festivals, including: DongGang Photography Festival; Photoquai Biennale; Les Rencontres d’Arles, Discoveries; Venice Biennale; Photo Beijing; plus li Shui Photography Festival. 

She’s contributed to many publications and is part of the Rvm Magazine editorial team. She is a regular juror, portfolio reviewer, speaker and award advisor throughout Europe, America and Asia.

derbyquad.co.uk
formatfestival.com

Max Ferguson
Freelance Photo Editor

Max is the Photo Director of Port Magazine, Editor of Splash & Grab Magazine and a regular photo editor for FT Weekend Magazine. He’s a lecturer in photography at the London College of Communication. He writes about photography and curates exhibitions. 

port-magazine.com
splashandgrab.co.uk

Simon Lovermann
Founder & Artistic Director, De Greif

Simon Lovermann is an artist, musician and cultural entrepreneur. He is the founder and artistic director of the internationally renowned organisation for contemporary photography Der Greif. 

Simon is the co-founder and CSO at Picter, a software company providing tools for the creative industries. Picter contests are the industry standard for the world’s most renowned image-based contests. Picter Workspace is the images-first team collaboration tool built for the creative industries.

Simon’s research and practice circles around topics such as a shifting perception of authorship, de- and recontextualization of images, appropriation and artistic approaches to photographic archives. He gives lectures and talks around the world, as well as workshops at internationally renowned universities and institutions, including the London College of Communication, École cantonale d'art de Lausanne and Parsons The New School.

picter.com
dergrief-online.de

Simon Frederick, Artist, Photographer, Director and Broadcaster

Highly regarded to be at the vanguard of his discipline, with a career punctuated by firsts; Simon was the lead judge on the Sky Arts series Master of Photography, co-hosting with Hollywood royalty Isabella Rossellini. His portraits, taken during the filming of the TV series Black Is The New Black, made history as the largest acquisition of African-Caribbean sitters by the National Portrait Gallery in London.  Simon’s landmark new series They've Gotta Have Us aired on the BBC in October 2018 and he has made portraits of these cinematic legends too. Simon was honored to be profiled amongst 2018's 100 'Most Influential Black Britons' in the category of Media, Publishing, & Entertainment alongside Vogue’s Vanessa Kingori and Edward Enninful, Artist and Director Steve McQueen, Actor David Harewood, Novelist Zadie Smith and Actor, Comedian and co-founder of charity Comic Relief Sir Lenny Henry.

Dagmar Seeland, Photo Editor and Writer, STERN magazine

Dagmar has worked as an editor and photo editor for a variety of lifestyle magazines before joining the German weekly STERN in 1999 as a photo editor for the magazine itself and other titles in the STERN group. There she enjoyed the opportunity to work with and commission some of the biggest names in photography, and to discover and nurture a host of new talent. As a writer herself she is particularly passionate about photography’s role in storytelling, and truly understands the process and collaboration that is required to make visual ideas work.

Shoair Mavlian, Director, Photoworks

Shoair Mavlian is director of Photoworks and is responsible for curating the 2018 Brighton Photo Biennial. From 2011-2018 she was Assistant Curator, Photography and International Art at Tate Modern, London, where she curated multiple major exhibitions including ‘Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art’ (2018), 'The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection' (2016) and 'Harry Callahan' (2013). While at Tate Modern she also researched acquisitions and curated displays from the permanent collection including ‘Dayanita Singh’ (2017) and 'Lynn Cohen and Taryn Simon' (2017). Recent independent curatorial projects include the exhibition 'Don McCullin: Looking Beyond the Edge' (Les Rencontres d'Arles, 2016).

"Seeing Beyond - Untold Stories" required photographers to present a strong series of 5-10 images that look beyond the ordinary and every day.  “Untold Stories” is intended to be understood in its broadest sense - the work could explore a familiar theme told from a different perspective or it could address an issue that has previously had little attention.  All forms of photography were welcome and judges were specifically looking for series of works that have a strong narrative.  
 

Chris Hudson, Art Director, National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Chris has worked in the travel and lifestyle publishing sector for over 10 years and has Art directed National Geographic Traveller since its launch in 2010. He has overseen several travel magazine launches and works with a wealth of travel photography talent across the globe. He is passionate about storytelling in imagery and communicating the 'you-are-there' moments that are captured throughout the world’s different cultures.

Peter Bas Mensink, Chief-Editor and Publisher, GUP Magazine(Holland)
Born in 1976, Peter began his career as a freelance image-editor for Dutch magazines. In 2005 he launched GUP Magazine and is chief-editor and publisher for all its platforms (print, online, social, events etc.). Peter is also an independent publisher of photo books and also curates exhibitions. 

Patricia Morvan, Cultural Projects & Exhibitions, Agence VU’, (France)
After studying journalism at the French Institute of Press (IFP) and documentation at Paris 8 University, Patricia worked as an Editor for the daily newspaper Liberation in 1989 and 1990, then for Bayard Press the following two years. Patricia joined the Agence VU’, a photographers’ agency, in 1992. She started as the Photo Editor, then as the Photo Archives Manager. In 2006, she became the Cultural Projects & Exhibitions Director. She has been co-lead of the agency since May 2017 with Patrick Codomier. 

"Meaningful Places" was the theme of the ZEISS Photography Award 2017 in which ZEISS supported the World Photography Organisation. 4,677 photographers from more than 130 different countries submitted over 30,000 photos. The choice was made by an international jury of independent experts from the photography industry. In its selection the jury is not bound by any stipulations from the sponsor, in this case ZEISS. The photos do not necessarily have to be taken with ZEISS camera lenses.  

Jürgen Schadeberg Dr.(h.c.) - Photographer

Dr Jurgen Schadeberg, sometimes known as “The Father of South African Photography”, is a principle figure in South African and world photography. His major body of work, which spans 70 years and incorporates a collection of some 200,000 negatives, captures a wealth of timeless and iconic images.

Jurgen was born in Berlin in 1931 and, while still in his teens, worked as an apprentice photographer for the German Press Agency in Hamburg. In 1950 he emigrated to South Africa and became Chief Photographer, Picture Editor and Art Director on Drum Magazine.

In 2014 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ICP in New York and in 2007 Jurgen was awarded the Officer’s Verdienst Kreuz First Class by the German President. 2014 saw Jurgen awarded a Doctorate, Doctor Honoris Causa, for his life work by Valencia Universitat Politecnica.

He met his future partner and wife, Claudia, in London in the seventies and they teamed up on a collaboration which has lasted over 30 years. With her help, he continues to actively work on new major photographic projects, books and exhibitions, to tour international shows and make his own silver investment archival hand prints. He now works in London, Berlin, Paris, South Africa and Spain. His autobiography will be published next year.

Claire Richardson - Picture Editor, Lonely Planet Traveller

Claire Richardson is the picture editor at Lonely Planet Traveller. She has commissioned and researched photography for one of the world's leading travel media companies since 2011, based in Lonely Planet’s UK magazine team while delivering imagery to a total of 11 editions around the world. Claire previously worked on British Airways’ High Life, produced by the creative agency Cedar, after studying history of art at the University of St Andrews. She developed her love of imaginative travel and understanding different cultures – values core to her work at Lonely Planet – while growing up in Thailand and South Korea.

Sarah Toplis - Commissioning Executive, ‎The Space

Sarah specialises in developing projects that lie at the intersection between art, design and technology. Her experience spans producing ambitious large-scale public arts, interactive installations, artists' films and a wide range of online/cross-platform projects. Formerly Digital Producer at Southbank Centre, Commissioning Editor at Tate and Editor for Getty Images Reportage, she has worked with range of museums, galleries, festivals and creatives. She has also worked independently as a freelance Producer working with artists, creative studios and commercial clients including Intel, Nike and Nissan.

Sarah also recently attended NYU’s Tisch Art School ITP programme so she could focus on exploring the imaginative use of new creative technologies across art, design and social change. She is interested in how technologies can bring creative disciplines together to create innovative work and bring new audiences to the arts.