Indiantelevision.com Team

(14 May 2008 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Amateur photographer Anindya from Kolkata won the top prize in the “Higher” category in Visa’s Olympics-inspired Visa Moving Images photography competition.

Anindya beat thousands of participants from 24 markets across the Asia Pacific region.

Majumdar’s picture is a shot of a young boy suspended in the air after a daring leap off the top of a tree into a river as his friends watch from below. It earned him a package for two to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and $5,000 in spending money.

The competition, which ran between 1 October 2007 and 31 December 2007, was themed on the elements of the Olympic Games motto - Citius, Altius, Fortius (Faster, Higher, Stronger) and China, the host nation of the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Each category winner was chosen by a panel of judges comprising five professional photographers and Visa’s executive management.

Visa International’s South Asia’s country manager Santanu Mukherjee said, “Majumdar’s photograph is a visually arresting shot of a young boy literally floating on the top of the world. It captures the moment of exhilaration that must be felt by any high jump or pole vault athlete who has beaten all others in a competition.

" While we received many outstanding images from across Asia Pacific, the composition of this image and how well it captured the “Higher” theme of the competition was why the judges felt that it deserved the top prize in its category.”

Majumdar said that he took the photograph in a small village in Bengal, “I never imagined that this photograph would find a place in a global sporting event like the Olympic Games. The children in the photograph are displaying their competitive spirit – a key value that I associate with the Olympic Games.

" I am honoured that my photograph was chosen by Visa as one of the four winning entries and I am doubly honored to have this opportunity to represent my country at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games”.

The top prizes for the Faster and China categories were awarded to Huang Ren and Yang Huanmin respectively from China and the prize for the “Stronger” category was awarded to Doo Young-Surk from Korea. The winners list, together with all short-listed competition entries can be viewed at the Visa Moving Images web gallery www.visamovingimages.com

The competition does not end for the category winners. Each will be asked to submit up to eight photographs of their experience at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The image that is judged to have best captured the Games will win for its photographer an additional $3,000 in prize money.