Musée de la Photographie

This 18th Prix national Photographie Ouverte hosted an excellent number of competitors! No less than 403 entries competed to gain the approval of the panel of judges

As in the previous editions, photographers had been allowed complete freedom in selecting the theme of their work. Such a lack of markers may prove to be destabilising for some competitors. It does, however, allow the largest number of them to give their sensitivity and their motivations free rein. This freedom to experiment with themes culminates in the confrontation of authentic approaches to photography -presented anonymously- and is an opportunity to connect with the judges in a truly genuine way, rather than through the comparison of responses to a set theme.

And the task of the panel of judges is indeed to distinguish between approaches to photography, enhanced by the quality of the proposed selection of photographs.

The panel of judges at the 18th Prix national Photographie Ouverte selected eleven award winners from among 403 anonymous applications received. These eleven award winners will receive the honour of being exhibited at the Museum of Photography from 29th May to 19th September 2021:

• Héloïse Berns
• Collectif Huma (Johanna de Tessières, Virginie Nguyen Hoang, Frédéric Pauwels and four journalists Laure Derenne, Aurelie Moreau, Valentine Van Vyve and Sabine Verhest)
• Paul D’Haese
• Sebastiaan Franco
• Arnold Grojean
• Maël G. Lagadec
• Anne Marquet
• Sebastian Steveniers
• Jef Van den Bossche
• Sébastien Van Malleghem
• Pierre Vanneste

Several of them were awarded a prize, which will be revealed and presented on 28th May 2021:

• ARNOLD GROJEAN : Prix national Photographie Ouverte: €1.500
  RTBF Award for the winner of the Prix national Photo- graphie Ouverte: presence of copyright-free photo prints, for two weeks, in the Eventbox on the homepage of the portals of La Première - Culture radio channel of the RTBF (Radio & Television Broadcasting Company of the French Community of Belgium)
• PAUL D'HAESE : Ministry of Culture Award: €1,500
• MAËL G. LAGADEC : SOFAM Award: €800 + membership of SOFAM
• COLLECTIF HUMA : Roger Anthoine Photography Award: €600
• SEBASTIAAN FRANCO : Nikon BeLux Award: a Nikon A1000
• ANNE MARQUET : Le Soir Award: a subscription to Le Soir + the “500 chefs d’œuvre de l’art belge” (“500 Masterpieces of Belgian Art”) in 10 volumes + the collection “Le Musée Idéal”
• HÉLOÏSE BERNS : Fotografie Circuit Vlaanderen Award: €250
• PIERRE VANNESTE : Vedi Award: prints on Dibond for an amount of €250

The 18th Prix national Photographie Ouverte benefits from the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, SOFAM, RTBF, Le Soir, Nikon Belux, Vedi and the Fotografie Circuit Vlaanderen, and the collaboration of the Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-de-France.