Fashion / Beauty
Andrej Kopac
Canada
http://www.andrejkopac.com/

Fine Art
Julia Fullerton-Batten
England
http://www.juliafullerton-batten.com/

General
Bronek Kozka
Australia
http://www.kozka.com/

Landscapes / Nature
Hans Strand
Sweden
http://www.hansstrand.com/ 

Upcoming
August Bradley
USA
http://www.augustbradley.com/

Portrait
Morfi Jiménez Mercado
Peru
http://www.morfijimenez.com/ 

Products
Gregor Halenda
USA
http://www.gregorhalenda.com/

Wedding /social 
Kevin Then
Malaysia

http://www.kevinthen.com/

Picking the ten winners of the Hasselblad Master Awards 2008 has proved to be a lengthy but enjoyable challenge for Hasselblad, who received more than 1,700 entries to the newly re-energised contest.  With each entrant submitting 10 images, the judges had to review over 17,000 photographs from established professional photographers using large and medium format cameras.  The high level of entries is further proof of the excellent reputation the Hasselblad Master Award has developed over the years for celebrating the best in both established and rising photographic talent. 

Given in recognition of a photographer’s contribution to the art of photography, the Master Award is judged on photographic ability, encompassing creativity, composition, conceptual strength and technical skill.  The team at Hasselblad began the rigorous judging process at the beginning of December, before the international jury, comprising the editors of five respected photographic magazines, selected the 10 winners from the 100 finalists.

The ten winners will each receive a framed diploma and the free use of a superb Hasselblad H3DII DSLR camera system for four months.  During that time, they will be able to use the equipment as they wish, although they will also use it to capture images to be included in the production of a unique, high quality, photographic book, to be launched at Photokina in September 2008.  

The book, a special Masters commemorative collection of photographs, will feature pictorials showing images from each winning photographer, who will be asked to interpret the theme ‘passion’ in their own style.  Aware that almost every photographer dreams of having their own creative work showcased in a book, each winner will also receive 50 copies of the book.  Printed in English by German publisher teNeues, the book will also be available in more than 70 countries and will retail at around €60 each.  A further 90 finalists and 400 runners-up will receive Masters Award diplomas. 

Christian Nørgaard, Hasselblad’s newly appointed Photographer Relations Manager, says, “We have been delighted by both the large number and extremely high quality of entries.  We now look forward to seeing the results of the winners’ individual interpretations of ‘passion’, using the best cameras in the world, and to choosing the finest of their images for the commemorative book.”

Details of the Hasselblad Master Awards 2009 will be announced on the Hasselblad website in March 2008, and submissions for the 2009 Awards will be accepted after that.  Due to the increasing popularity of the contest, next year’s judging panel will be twice the size and will also include several photographers of international renown.