9mobile photography competition unveils voters’ choice, shortlist

Nigeria’s most youth-focused telecommunication company, 9mobile, has announced ‘Voters’ Choice’ as well as the shortlist for the 2018 edition of its Photography Competition.

The ‘Voters’ Choice’ category was selected through a two-week online public vote which was opened to photography enthusiasts from November 5 to 19, 2018.

The winner of the ‘Voters’ Choice’ category is David Gideon, for his work titled ‘A Woman.’

In addition, the shortlist of front-runners with the best three images comprises Ayodeji Ogunro, Bambi Daniel and Oluwatosin Christiana Obafemi for their work captioned ‘The Wind,’ ‘Female Barber,’ and ‘My Passion, My Strength’ respectively. They were selected by the three-member jury panel for the competition made up of creative photographer, Kola Oshalusi, documentary photographer, Bernard Kalu, and award-winning photo-journalist, Aisha Augie-Kuta.

9mobile’s Director of Brands and Experience, Elvis Ogiemwanye, congratulated the Voter’s Choice winner and the short-listed participants in the competition, noting that the feats were worth celebrating as emerging best-in-class amongst several hundreds of entries is truly commendable. He also praised the public for participating in the online voting, and the judges for a job well-done.

“This is a very competitive initiative,” he said. “So, coming this far is no small achievement. The 9mobile team congratulates all the winners for shining through thus far. For those whose entries did not win, we also salute you for your creativity and drive; every one of the images that we received this year showed how great Nigerians are in leveraging the power of camera and digital media to make indelible expressions.”

Ogiemwanye further stated, “We are very excited, and look forward to December 6 when the overall winner and the two runners-up will be announced and rewarded.”

With the theme as ‘9ja: My Grind, My Hustle’, this year’s competition is a celebration of individuals that labour daily to make ends meet, those who appreciate the importance of hard work, and have a drive for success and fulfillment.

The competition is a talent development initiative by 9mobile aimed to engage and empower budding photographers using the power of digital media.