Hasselblad announced the ten winners of its 2009 Masters Award. Given in recognition of his or her contribution to the art of photography, Masters Awards are judged on photographic ability in the areas of creativity, composition, conceptual strength and technical skill. Because of the high level of participation (nearly 3,000 photographers which is almost double the number from 2008) the size of the judging panel was increased twofold. An internal jury performed the first round of eliminations and an elite panel of industry professionals, including Steve McCurry (USA), Anton Corbijn (Netherlands) and Tim Flach (UK) made the winning selections. For the first time, a public poll counted as one vote for each category.
For the occasion of the Photokina 2010 imaging fair (Cologne), the annual commemorative Masters book will be launched and released. This second volume will feature the 2009 winning photographic interpretations of the theme “emotion”.