During a recent gala dinner at the Corinthia San Gorg Hotel, John Ambrogio was awarded the coveted Malta Institute of Professional Photography’s (MIPP) Photographer of the Year Award. This year’s award was again very closely contested and the result was uncertain till the last minute with only a few points between the final two contenders.
The MIPP Photographer of the Year competition is aimed mainly at local professional photographers who are members of the Institute. Its main aim is to make photographers produce high quality images for a live judging session composed of a panel of three or more Master photographers. This method of judging not only makes this competition a fair and transparent exercise but also an extended learning experience, both for the participants, as well as for the audience in attendance at each judging session which is open to all MIPP members.
The award is considered to be the top prize for local professional photographers and is keenly contested every year. Rather than a one-time contest with just a single effort from participants, this annual award requires contestants to participate in five bi-monthly competitions during which each candidate garners points by submitting three images for each session throughout the year. Three contests usually have thematic subjects while two are “free” subjects. This year also saw the introduction of the submission of a panel of five images in the last
session.
Mr Ambrogio’s submissions were a mixture of vernacular and pictorial photography while his theme for the panel of five images was Cars. This displayed interesting views of his other passion for fast luxury cars. Carrying the highest number of points from all the previous sessions, this panel was reviewed and scored by five judges simultaneously making for a nail biting finish with the contestants not knowing their fate before the awards dinner.
Mr Ambrogio, who accumulated the highest points aggregate over the whole event, was declared winner of the MIPP Photographer of the Year Award for 2009.