The Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) closed its 14th season recently in Dubai with an awards ceremony at the Museum of the Future (MOTF), celebrating a global set of images that interpreted the theme of ‘Power’. The images included a touch of the elements to the intimate, including the nature’s fury to human endurance.
- By Bhavya Desai
This year’s edition drew an extraordinary 87,000 submissions from roughly 50,000 photographers worldwide – that’s a lot of entries – making the jurors’ life difficult.
And at the heart of it all was an evening – set with the winning photographs of those whose work literalises the show’s theme. The US$200,000 Grand Prize went to Italian photographer Gianluca Gianferrari for a monumental shot of Mount Etna – molten fragments lighting up snow – an image that speaks to geological force and visual drama.
Other category winners included Karine Aigner’s jaguar portrait (General—Colour) and Ali Jadallah’s portfolio “Burden of Survival”, which documents life under siege and uses storytelling to register human power and its costs. Those images – whether volcanic, predatory or political – treated power as a physical and moral force the camera can both reveal and question.
But what caught my attention was that HIPA’s organisers framed the competition itself as an exercise in civic and cultural soft power: HIPA Secretary-General Ali Khalifa bin Thalith highlighted the award’s growing global reach and its aim of promoting photography as a tool for communication and social reflection.
And as an ode to art itself – the ceremony was hosted at one of Dubai’s most symbolic cultural venues, the Museum of the Future – symbolising the push to expand programming (including the Dubai Photo Forum) underlining how the emirate is using flagship cultural events to position itself as a global conveyer for the arts.
Officials said the scale of entries and the calibre of the jury demonstrate Dubai’s ability to attract and amplify work from across continents.
Power in the frame
Judges noted that the strongest submissions treated “power” ambiguously and layered meaning into a single frame: natural force (volcanoes, oceans, storms), animal presence (the jaguar’s raw authority), institutional power and the human will to survive (Jadallah’s Gaza series), and even the kinetic authority of elite athletes.
The new Drone (Video) and Portfolio categories continued to reward long-form, narrative approaches that use sequencing and motion to build a more complex sense of agency showcasing how story telling is king.
Special honours for Rick Smolan and Mark Smith
HIPA also presented special awards recognising careers and contemporary influence. American photographer and author Rick Smolan – a legend received an Appreciation Award similar to a Lifetime Achievement in our part of the world acknowledging the decades-long career in large-scale, impact-driven visual projects.
Mark Smith was honoured with the Photography Content Creator Award for his prolific wildlife work and digital reach – the kind of storytelling that has made his work on nature and conservation visually viral.
Stay tuned for exclusives with both these photographers in our magazine.
The Local Hero
UAE’s own Yousef Bin Shakar Al Zaabi also was honoured with a third place in the General Black and White category. This was his second time winning the award – with the previous one in a different category.
India Also Made The Cut
Indian photographers featured among the shortlist and prize-winners this year. In the main “Power” category, Deepak Singh Dogra and in the Drone (Video) category, Shantha Kumar Nagendran placed third.
It wasn’t a surprise that there were many Indian participants across categories highlighting that, contributors from the subcontinent remain a consistent presence in the competition’s shortlist and exhibitions said the officials.
But apart from the cultural initiative HIPA’s 14th edition reinforced Dubai’s strategy of hosting major cultural platforms to foster artistic exchange and international visibility.
By hosting the ceremony at the Museum of the Future and linking awards to public programming such as the Dubai Photo Forum, HIPA extends the life of the competition beyond a single gala. Exhibitions, talks and workshops help translate prize winning images into ongoing conversations about climate, conflict, conservation and creativity.
That civic choreography – public venue, high prize money, international jury and media attention – is great optics and cultural diplomacy play that raises Dubai’s profile as an arts hub while giving photographers access to new audiences.