Enjoyed a great night last Saturday at the Cairns Reef Hotel Casino celebrating – with colleagues from the media and advertising industries – the twenty first Queensland Multi Media Awards.
At the end of a very entertaining evening and after enjoying some great company and many laughs, I left lugging awards for ‘Best Editorial Photograph’ (Ravenshoe Blast Survivor) and ‘Best Photographic Image’ (Manus – Beaten Asylum Seeker).
I’m very grateful to the subjects of my images … former Ravenshoe cafe chef Noeleen Avenell who suffered massive burns and months of painful recovery (which continue to this day) … and young Iraqi asylum seeker Abdullatif who suffered detention on Manus Island at the whims of the Australian government. (As a footnote – Abdullatif, now just twenty one, was recently deported back to Iraq … and in past weeks I have managed to track him down to Turkey where he fled after finding Iraq ‘too dangerous’.)
Below are the two winning images … © Brian Cassey
Thanks to the 2016 QMMA organising committee … and ‘bring on’ the 22nd QMMA’s in 2017 … !
