The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) has announced its ‘Merit Medal’ recipients for the recently concluded tenth season, ‘Humanity’.

Nineteen photographers have been recognised for their submissions across the season’s categories. They will each be awarded the HIPA Merit Medal along with a copy of HIPA’s annual book.

Commenting on this announcement, Ali Bin Thalith, Secretary-General of HIPA, said, "The HIPA Merit Medals are an honourable mention of photographers who reached the final stages of judging and were deserving of praise and recognition. The tenth season categories invited our photographers to inspire our community with thought-provoking photographs that have no doubt led to open dialogue on subject matter that is close to all of our hearts."

Romanian photographer and tenth season judge, Catalin Marin echoed the sentiment expressing, "I have always felt whenever I travel to a new place particularly a very difficult place to get to, it was very important to show it to rest of the world because I’m fully aware that not everybody has the opportunity to get to some of these places. That is what I find inspirational in photography and what photography manages to do for the world."

Of the nineteen recipients, three were from the ‘Humanity’ category, six from the ‘Portfolio’ category, and ten across the ‘General’ category (six for ‘Colour’ and four for ‘Black and White’). The HIPA Merit Medals were designed by HIPA Board of Trustee member and Emirati artist, Matar bin Lahej.

Tenth season judge and accomplished Saudi photographer, Hanaa Turkistani shared with our participants an insight, explaining that effective photography is created at the crossroads between a photographer’s creative vision and their skill to translate that into a photograph.

Bin Thalith concluded, "We hope this recognition and insight shared by our judges inspire our Merit Medal recipients to continue nurturing their talents and developing their skills as they have the potential to be our future HIPA Award winners. Congratulations to all our tenth season Merit Medal recipients.