National Geographic Abu Dhabi & Almarai Launch 2018 ‘Moments’ Competition Celebrating the ‘Stories of People of the Middle East’

National Geographic Abu Dhabi (NGAD) and Almarai announced today the kick off the 8th edition of ‘Moments’, its annual regional photography competition to nurture the talent of aspiring photographers from around the Arab world.  

Held under the theme of ‘Stories of People of the Arab World, the 2018 ‘Moments’ competition enables photographers from the region to present a wide spectrum of images capturing the true essence and beauty of the Middle East through its people.

The competition is held in partnership with Almarai, who has been a strategic supporter of this platform for the last 5 years as part of their CSR program and shared vision of nurturing youth talent from the Middle East.

‘Moments’ is one of the largest photography competitions in the region, which attracted over 19,000 entries from across the Middle East and North Africa. The Grand Prize winner will have his/her photograph printed in the National Geographic magazine Arabic edition and earn a trip of a lifetime, an 10-day expedition Trip to Italy, worth $10,000, where they will be mentored by National Geographic expert photographers, in addition to $10,000 photography equipment courtesy of Nikon.  

The judging panel will feature Tasneem Sultan, an award-winning Saudi photographer who is a professional National Geographic photographer and Mr. Hussam R. Abdulqader, EVP Corporate Marketing, Almarai.

Almarai, the GCC's leading dairy industry, has been a strategic partner of National Geographic Abu Dhabi’s Moments Competition since 2014 and for the fifth year in a row, with a shared vision and commitment to support Arab budding photographers, through offering them exposure and the possibility to be discovered on a platform that has seen over 180,000 accumulated participants.

 ‘Moments’ is part of a regional photography talent platform developed by National Geographic Abu Dhabi to promote and nurture local talents and help them launch their careers. The platform also features a Reality TV program ‘I am a NatGeo Photographer’ and a new ‘I Am a NatGeo Junior Photographer’, both locally produced shows that run on National Geographic Abu Dhabi and National Geographic Kids Abu Dhabi channels respectively.

Abdulrahman Awadh Al Harthi, Acting Executive Director of Television & Executive Director of Abu Dhabi Radio Network at Abu Dhabi Media, said, “The Moments Photography competition is part of our continued commitment towards nurturing talents across all segments of society and encouraging the community especially youth to express their creativity and reach their highest potential.

“The great success of the seventh edition in 2017 gives us a new challenge in 2018 to ensure we reach a largest number of applicants from diverse backgrounds and give them the platform to express their creativity and stories to be shared across the region.

Commenting on this year’s competition, Hussam R. Abdulqader, EVP Corporate Marketing, Almarai, said, “We highly value our partnership with National Geographic Abu Dhabi which is enabling us to discover photography talent from across the region and providing them with a unique opportunity develop their careers at the hands of the best photographers in the world. We look forward to yet another season of remarkable talent emerging from across the Middle East.”

Sanjay Raina, General Manager and Senior Vice-President of Fox Networks Groups (FNG), said, “. For 130 years, National Geographic has ignited the explorer in all people through photography and storytelling. For the Moments Photography competition, we encourage photographers from across the Arab World to show us their world and share with us their untold stories through the lens of their camera.  

Raina added: “Our theme this year ‘Stories of People of the Arab Word’, celebrates the richness and diversity of this vast region. Through making the competition accessible to all, we hope not only to nurture the next generation of photographers in the region, but also to foster a cultural exchange using the extraordinary power of a photograph and the unique story it carries with it. And we want to share these stories from the Arab World with the rest of the world as well.”

In this year’s competition, each story will carry with it an authentic, detailed and complete description of the story behind the image, which aims to add geographic, social and cultural context to the photo. In addition, the integrity and ethics behind the photo will be of utmost value – keep up with National Geographic’s Global standards of ensuring images accurately represents cultures, ecosystems, and wildlife.