Contest Judges
Mark Garten
Mark Garten, currently Chief of Photography at the United Nations, has been creating images professionally for the past 24 years. After receiving a Bachelor in Fine Arts at the University of Buffalo, New York, Mark opened a still life studio creating images for advertising. His journey has now landed him at the United Nations, where he leads a team of photographers. Traveling much of the globe with former and current UN Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, respectively, Mark has had the opportunity to observe first-hand UN programmes and their impact on men, women and children. From documenting the struggles of Internally Displaced People in Colombia’s jungles to conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon, Mark tries to show the truths of humankind and the ways we can help each other through the images he creates. His images have been seen in galleries as well as media outlets, books and magazines around the world.
John Isaac
John Isaac became a photojournalist for the United Nations in 1978 and worked as chief camera person conducting photo shoots for UN projects in more than 100 countries. Originally from India he now resides in New York. His many awards include earning the distinguished Olympus Visionary photographer award; the Photokina International Photo Contest First Prize; the GRAPHIS Magazine Best Outdoor Photograph; and the 1993 PhotoImaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association Professional Photographer of the Year. In 2000 he won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Photographic Council. Isaac’s book on Kashmir, The Vale of Kashmir, was published in 2008 by W.W. Norton. He made 12 trips to Kashmir in the last five years to complete this book.
Wangari Maathai
Professor Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan environmentalist and the 2004 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai founded Kenya’s famous Green Belt Movement, which mobilizes rural women to plant trees and protect their natural environment. To date, over 40 million trees have been planted over the course of three decades and the Movement has developed into a broad-based, grassroots organization that promotes civic and environmental education, nutrition, water harvesting and good governance. From 2002 to 2007, Maathai served in Kenya's Parliament; she is the author of Unbowed and The Challenge for Africa.
Peter Magubane
Peter Magubane is one of South Africa’s most internationally acclaimed photographers. He embarked on his distinguished career in 1954 with Drum magazine, which took Peter to the heart of the anti-apartheid defiance campaigns. After the Drum years, Peter exhibited in Europe and studied in the United States. Back home, he was detained for 586 days in solitary confinement and was later banned as a photographer for five years. Peter’s photographs recorded the struggle for liberation in South Africa. Peter was the first black South African to receive an award for his photography in 1958 in the South Africa Best Picture of the Year Contest. For his dedication and outstanding contribution to the world of photography, Peter has received numerous accolades, among them: the Mother Jones-Leica Lifetime Achievement Award; the Martin Luther King Luthuli Award; four Honorary Doctorates from South African universities; and the Order for Meritorious Service from Former President Nelson Mandela. In 2008, Peter was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society in London. Today, Peter mainly focuses his lens on the traditions and cultural practises of South Africans, as seen in some of his books: Vanishing Cultures of South Africa; African Renaissance; and AmaNdebele.
Paola Messana
Paola Messana, a former AFP Photo Director in Paris, has been a journalist since 1979. After working as a correspondent in Rome for Agence France-Presse from 1983 to 1988, she was assigned to Moscow from 1990 to 2005, where she created the AFP network in the 15 former soviet republics and covered the fall of the Soviet Union. Awarded the prestigious Albert Londres Award with her team in 1995 for the coverage of the first Chechnya war, she wrote two books on Russia, Kommunalka and Olga drives a Jaguar. Paola has been the AFP New York bureau chief since 2007.