Mentioned in Dispatches from Budapest …

… Nice … 4 X Honourable Mentions in the 2022 Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA) announced yesterday.

You’ve likely seen the work before on this blog, social media or elsewhere … but always nice to receive a little more kudos. So … here they are …

1. “Veronica – Where Home Brew Kills” – People/Children – Five year old Veronica Barnes on Mornington Island in far northern Australia. Her remote indigenous community is suffering the ravages of a dangerous ‘Home Brew’ alcohol epidemic. Veronica is growing up in a community where community members – including children – are dying from alcohol related issues and severe diabetes.
2. “Scooter- Paralympian” – Editorial/Sport – Swim Paralympian Grant “Scooter” Patterson has diastrophic dysplasia, a joint fusion disability connected to dwarfism. He was catapulted to cult hero status around the planet when he won silver and bronze swim medals at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. His nickname comes from his constant form of transport – a three wheel scooter.
3. “Mother Africa” – People/Culture – As a black Colorado born African American, Aurora Coulter is acutely aware of her heritage, the treatment of her coloured predecessors and forebears in the United States – and also the history of Australia’s indigenous population since supposed ‘settlement’.
4. “Covid Vax & Ice Cream” – People/Portrait – After receiving her first Pfizer Covid-19 vaccination in her remote Yarrabah far north Australia home, 67 year old aboriginal Leanne Bulmer sits with her ‘reward’ – a free ice cream from the ice cream van that was arranged to follow the on foot ‘door to door’ doctors and medical teams through the indigenous community.

Taking some of the gloss off the BIFA announcement was the insane decision by both IG and FB to ‘remove’ the tasteful and respectful ‘news’ image of Veronica citing their ‘community standards’ and impose a ‘ban’ … whilst they constantly bombard social media with unsolicited overtly sexually blatant images of females displaying their various ‘bits’. Go figure …

You may check out where all four of these images have previously gained attention on my ‘Awards’ page here.

Also a special mention and a brilliant result for Cairns colleague and friend Emese Gyalog who won a ‘Bronze’ award and also 4 x Honourable Mentions … (and who just happens to be in Budapest right now.)

Big Thanks to my subjects … Veronica, Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson, Aurora Coulter and Leanne Bulmer.

Images © Brian Cassey

Budapest International Foto Awards (BIFA 2022 - Honourable Mention X 4 - "Veronica - Where Home Brew Kills", "Scooter", "Mother Africa" & "Covid Vax & Ice Cream" - by Brian Cassey

 

NPPA “Best of Photojournalism” Win …

About this time last year – on a whim, a wing and a prayer – I sent a couple of images into the US based ‘National Press Photographers Association’ – “Best of Photojournalism” awards … and promptly forgot about it. As you do …

No ‘you’re a winner’ (or even ‘placegetter’) email arrived so you just get on with life …

Then … just last week I got a Facebook message from photojournalist colleague Ted Mcdonnell who had arrived back from a gig in Timor Leste and gone through his pile of mail where he found his new copy of the NPPA mag “News Photographer”. There gracing the inside cover (see below) he found my portrait of beautiful burns survivor Carol Mayer and the news (to me) that it had WON the “Portrait” category for ‘A single photograph that captures a unique aspect of a local figure’€™s character and personality. This should not be a public figure who is regularly covered in the news, but rather a local heroine, hero, or community member’.

Carol certainly falls easily into that category … !  (and the nicest part is she gets as excited as I do with the successes her portrait has achieved – Nikon WalkleyKellicutt International USInternational Photography Awards (IPA)Head On Portrait PrizeInternational Color Awards, International Loupe Awards, Queensland Multi Media Awards etc … )

Pretty stunned about the news .. despite the fact it was announced a few months ago … but, if I’m honest, a bit miffed that I wasn’t told at the announcements. I emailed NPPA and a reply from Thomas Kenniff reckons I should have got an email as all Winners did.

The moral is ? Try and remember to check awards and competition results … just in case!

Below is the inside cover page of the NPPA magazine “News Photographer” with the result – a click on that will take you to the NPPA site.

Carol Mayer image © Brian Cassey

 

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