World Photography Organization and Sony Electronics in America and CIS countries are glad to name the winner of the America National Award 2022, which is held within the framework of the international Sony World Photography Awards 2022. This year the best American photographer was Marianna Smolina.
© Marianna Smolina, American Federation/Winner National Awards Sony World Photography Awards-2022
The National Awards is an initiative of the World Photography Organization and Sony, created to support local photo communities from around the world. This year representatives from 61 countries took part in the national competitions. More than 340,000 works from 211 countries and regions were submitted for the international Sony World Photography Awards 2022. Over 170 thousand entries were submitted for the Open Contest this category is used to select the winners of the National Contests .
Marianna Smolina was selected by an anonymous jury vote for the work “Flight” submitted in the “Motion” category of the Open Competition. The photograph captures the ballerina’s frozen flight, to which the little girls’ gaze is fixed, admiring her grace and dreaming that someday they could be like her.
“It’s very hard to put my emotions into words,” commented Marianna Smolina on her win. – I was overjoyed when I got the letter saying that I had won first place! It’s always such a pleasure to know that your work is so highly regarded. Thank you so much for this opportunity! Winning Sony World Photography Awards means a lot to me. It’s extremely encouraging not to rest on our laurels. Also, this win stands out because the Sony World Photography Awards is a major international competition with many participants, not just Americans.”.
Mariana started taking photos after her first child was born, and since then she can’t imagine her life without photography. She currently specializes in children and family photography, but beyond that, she tries to spend a lot of time on her creative projects as well, such as “Flight”.
“The photo was taken at a dance school in C.-Petersburg, – says Marianna Smolina. – I made a special search for a location for this shooting in St. Petersburg. At first I was choosing between photo studios, but then I unexpectedly found this room. My heroine was a real professional ballerina Anastasia Gorbacheva. At that time she graduated from college and began working at the Mariinsky Theatre. The young models are only four or five years old. They were chosen from a casting call I made on the internet. It was part of my creative project on a childhood dream.
“If we talk about my creative plans, – says Marianna Smolina in conclusion, – I would really like to leave my mark in the world photography. My dream is to shoot at least one little masterpiece that will go down in history!”.
Thanks to her victory in the National Competition, Marianna Smolina will receive Sony digital imaging equipment. In addition, her work will be featured as part of the Photo Contest exhibition, as well as being included in the annual Sony World Photography Awards book.
Who was announced as the winner of the America National Award 2022? I’m curious to know who received this prestigious honor and what their accomplishment or contribution to society was.