Google photography award winners go on show at Saatchi Gallery, London

Associated media

Google and the Saatchi Gallery have announced the top 10 finalists of the Google Photography Prize, a global competition to find the photography stars of the future. The Prize received nearly 20,000 entries from students based in 146 countries, and 10 finalists will exhibit their work at the Saatchi Gallery in London from 25 April 2012, alongside the Saatchi Gallery’s new exhibition of international photography, 'Out of Focus'.

Google and the Saatchi Gallery believe that great art deserves great exposure. The Google Photography Prize was launched to give student photographers around the world a chance to showcase their work on an international stage, giving them unprecedented online and offline exposure. The competition was open to students in institutions of higher education who were invited to enter photographs in the following categories: Night, Me, Point of View, Action, Sound/Silence, Sport, Travel, Food, Fashion and Street.


A hundred international photography experts reviewed all the entries and made a longlist of 100. The jury, Susan Bright, Elina Brotherus, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Nigel Hurst, Dayanita Singh, Terje Sørgejerd and Joel Sternfeld, chose 10 finalists. They are: Collin Avery (US), Viktor Johanssen (Sweden), Kyrre Lien (Norway), Claudia Alexandra Manta (Romania), Balazs Mate (Hungary), Adi Sason (Israel), Oliver Seary (UK), Dana Stirling (Israel), Sasha Tamarin (Israel), Zhao Yi (China).


The winner of the Google Photography Prize will be announced on 24 April at the Saatchi Gallery in London, and will go on a once-in-a-lifetime trip with a professional photographer as their mentor.

Nigel Hurst, Saatchi Gallery Director and CEO said:

We received a quite overwhelming array of arresting, beautiful, compelling, diverse and unexpected images. The work of the ten finalists highlights all of these strengths, and demonstrates considerable skill and vision. We are very proud to have the opportunity to show their work at the Saatchi Gallery through this collaboration with Google.  


The Google Photography Prize and /Out of Focus: Photography/ will be open to the public from 25 April – 22 July 2012. Entry to all exhibitions at the Saatchi Gallery in London is free.