The winners of the World’s Coolest Winter photography competition, which tasked entrants with capturing images of the UAE, have been announced.
Organised by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Awards in collaboration with the UAE Government Media Office, the competition was designed to highlight the UAE’s entertainment, culture and natural landmarks, and raise awareness of the variety of its tourism activities during the nation’s winter.
Running from December 20, 2021 to January 20, 2022, the competition attracted 2,176 participants from 89 countries, and more than 2,800 images were submitted.
It featured two main categories – One Photo, which was open to the public, and Portfolio, which was exclusive to professional photographers.
The One Photo competition featured five subcategories, each of which had its own winner. They were Maurizio Casula from Italy (Desert), Jason Balaba from the Philippines (Sea), Abdalla Mohamed Alraeesi from the UAE (Mountains), Khaled Alkindi from the UAE (Valleys) and Ajay Ghosh Ramachandran from India (Emirates from Above). Each was awarded Dh7,000.
The winners of the Portfolio competition’s four subcategories were Omar Almarzouqi from the UAE (In Your Eyes), Rahul Bansal from India (UAE Wildlife), Tittu Thomas from India (Faces from UAE) and Crisencio Bernabe from the Philippines (UAE Street Life). Each was awarded Dh50,000.
"The UAE’s nature, landscapes, society and culture are a model for beautifully synchronised diversity,” said Alia Al Hammadi, deputy chairperson of the UAE Government Media Office. “Its landmarks across the nation attract visitors and tourists from within and outside the UAE, and its scenery is a focal point for artists and creative geniuses."
On the panel of expert judges was photographer John Stanmeyer, whose work has been featured on 14 of National Geographic's covers and 18 Time magazine covers. Three-time Pulitzer and Emmy Award-winning photojournalist Barbara Davidson, and Shadi Nasri, who specialises in night photography, natural landscapes and fine art landscapes, were also on the panel.
Scroll through the gallery above to see the winning images
Notable Yas events in 2017/18
October 13-14 KartZone (complimentary trials)
December 14-16 The Gulf 12 Hours Endurance race
March 5 Yas Marina Circuit Karting Enduro event
March 8-9 UAE Rotax Max Challenge
57%20Seconds
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Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
Switching%20sides
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Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
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