malaysiangKUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 – Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) photographer Mohd Izzul Farhan Ahmad Surianshah has been shortlisted in the 2021 News Photo Awards competition organised by the Russian news agency TASS.
Izzul, 28, from Bernama’s Seremban Bureau, who has won several local photo awards in eight years of his career so far, is the only Malaysian representative for the international awards this year.
This is the second edition of the awards for professional news photographers around the world with about 5,000 entries from 74 countries.
“I am very happy to be nominated and it’s a wonderful surprise, as I did not have that high an expectation,” said Izzul when contacted.
Asked about the story behind the photo ‘COVID-19 Funeral’ submitted for the competition, Izzul said he was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic situation in Malaysia where death was possible at any moment, with frontliners working hard round the clock.
Meanwhile, the organiser in an online statement said that this year’s competition consists of four nomination categories, namely News, People & Lifestyle, Healthcare and Environment.
The winners will be announced on March 24 in an online ceremony and the best photo will be awarded the grand prize of USD10,000, while the winners of each category will receive USD3,000.
“There are many strong submissions and it was difficult to choose the best for our shortlist and I thank our extensive international jury for their time and professional expertise,” said Grigory Dukor, the jury’s chair and the head of the Photo and Video Service at TASS, as quoted in the statement.
Last year’s grand prize award was won by Brais Lorenzo Couto from Spanish international news agency EFE Agency.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency
