World Photographic Cup 2016

World Photographic Cup 2016 – oficiálne výsledky

Santa Maria de Feira, Portugal, March 14th, 2016

Natália Benčičová, Dušan Beňo, Peter Čakovský, Norbert Eggenhofer, Walde Jánsky, Martin Krystýnek QEP, Matej Michalík, Ján Štovka Master QEP, Mária Švarbová, Vlado Veverka, slovenskí fotografi, ktorí sa zúčastnili celosvetovej fotografickej súťaže World Photographic Cup 2016 a vďaka piatim finalistom a zlatej medaile (Dušan Beňo) zabezpečili Slovensku vynikajúce tretie miesto.

Jednotliví víťazi a víťazný tím putovného pohára World Photograpic Cup-u, sponzorovaného Federáciou európskych profesionálnych fotografov (FEP), Profesionálnych fotografov Ameriky (PPA), Úniou ázijských profesionálnych fotografov a Austrálskym inštitútom profesionálnych fotografov (AIPP) boli vyhlásení 14. marca 2016 vo Villa de Feira v Portugalsku na akcii EXPOFOTO organizovanej portugalskou asociáciou APPImagem.

27 národných tímov zo 4 kontinentov sveta (16 z Európy, 6 z Ázie, 3 zo Severnej Ameriky a 2 z Oceánie) sa prihlásilo na tretí ročník fotografickej olympiády, jedinej svojho druhu.

Kým zlato, striebro a bronzové medaily boli udelené k jednotlivom v každej kategórii, tímom boli udelené body za prvé až desiate miesto. 10 bodov za zlato, 9 za striebro, bronz 8 až po desiate miesto za 1 bod. Prvých desať pozícií bolo rozhodnutých doslova na desatinné miesta, čo naznačuje, veľmi, veľmi tesné výsledky tímovej súťaže.

Slovensko má v sútaži zastúpenie aj v organizačnom tíme. Martin Vrabko Master QEP, spoluzakladateľ súťaže je zárovaň aj predseda poroty.

Ocenenia za slovenký tím a jednotlivcov prebral tento rok Martin Krystýnek, QEP, ktorý spolu s Martinom Vrabkom zostavovali finálny panel do súťaže. K výsledkom súťaže povedal: „Som nesmierne rád, že sa nám podarilo zostaviť silný tím ľudí, pre ktorých bola česť reprezentovať našu krajinu v tak  náročnej a vysoko kvalitne obsadenej súťaži. Verím že tento úspech povzbudí a priláka ďaľších kvalitných a kreatívnych fotografov a ďalší ročník slovenský tím dosiahne ešte lepšie výsledky.“

World Photographic Cup je celosvetová súťaž tak individulánych fotografov ako aj tímov, organozivaná pod hlavičkou FEP (Federation of European Photographers), PPA (Professional Photographers of America), UAPP (United Asia Professional Photography) and AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography).

Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal, March 14th, 2016
The World Photographic Cup 2016 winners announced  
After achieving the third place in 2014, and the second place in 2015, ….with a total of 55 points…..four medals and 4 top-10 finishes…….the winner of the 2016 World Photographic Cup,  is homeland Team Portugal !
The second place goes to team Russia, with Slovakia in the third place.
Individual gold medals go to Finland, Slovakia, Spain, Mexico, Russia and Portugal.
Individual winners and the Cup winning Team of the 2016 World Photographic Cup (WPC), sponsored by the FEP – Federation of European Professional Photographers, PPA – Professional Photographers of America, the UAPP – United Asian Professional Photography and the AIPP – Australian Institute of Professional Photography, has been  finally announced on March 14th, in Villa da Feira, Portugal, aside Expofoto, organized by the national Portuguese professional association (APPImagem).
27 national photographic teams entered the third edition of this unique, one of a kind Olympics-styled competition, from 4 continents (16 from Europe, 6 from Asia, 3 from North America and 2 from Oceania).
The Golden medals in the six categories went to:
Diamantino Jesus, Portugal for commercial category (Diamantino also got a silver medal  in the illustrative category!)
Jesús Miguel Muel de Dios (Spain),  for Illustrative category.
Dušan Beňo (Slovakia), for Nature (Landscape and wild life).
Onni Wiljami Kinnunen (Finland)  for the portait (which also got a bronze medal in the commercial category)
Gonzalo Vargas Acosta, Mexico for Reportage/Photo Journalism
Igor Bulgak (Russia) for Wedding.
Also appears in the medals table: Hannes Kutzler, Austria, Silver Medal for commercial; Ben Shirk, Team USA Bronze Medal in Illustrative; Nick Melidonis, Australia, Silver Medal and Otakar Metlicka, Czech Republic, Bronze Medal for Nature; Igor Sakharov, Russia, silver medal and Peter Rossi, Australia, Bronze medalist for portrait; Yeray Menéndez López, Spain, Silver Medal and Jorge Bacelar, Portugal, Bronze Medal in Reportage/Photojournalism; and finally Bai Chen, Team China, Silver Medal and Helder Couto, Portugal, Bronze Medal in Wedding.
While gold, silver, and bronze medals have been awarded to the individual creators in each category, teams were awarded points for top ten finishes. They received 10 points for gold, 9 for silver, 8 bronze and that follows to the tenth top image. The top ten positions were decided literally on decimal points which suggests a very, very tight team competition.
Czech Republic team finished the competition in 10th place. China got the 9th place, and Finland the 8th place.  They finished  in a two-way tie in 6th place Australia and Austria. All alone in an amazing 5th place, Mexico (new entry team for the competition).  In the 4thplace , just close to the podium, Spain confirmed the place achieved in 2015.
The third place trophy, with 1 golden medal and 5 top-ten finishes, 34,5 points, went to Team Slovakia.
The second place trophy, with 2 medals and 6 top-ten finishes, 46,5 points went to Team Russia (another amazing new entry!).
And the winner of the 2016 World Photographic Cup also with 2 medals and 6 top-ten finishes, and 55 points,  was Team Portugal.
“Congratulations to Team Portugal and all the winners. An incredibly close competition, with a huge variety of winners  is exactly what the WPC committee could hope for”, commented the Chairman of  WPC Judging Committee Jorgen Brandt,  who also thanked the 27 team coordinators and the 21 international judges for their amazing job.. “All teams having great entries and all countries competing by a very narrow margin to determine the winner. It has been exciting to see such a beautiful  images coming from around the globe, and really hard to judge them!“ 
“It’s a unique feeling coming out from a unique competition” –  added Giuseppe Scozzi, WPC Chief Executive. “Representing their homeland at any level is an amazing opportunity and there has never been a program that involves photography like this. Now we have it in the World Photographic Cup. We really experienced  the groundswell of enthusiasm from photographers to create the finest they can in the hope of representing their country!”  
The WPC CEO also announced that after the celebration made in USA in 2014, France in 2015, and Portugal this year, the next hosting countries will be Japan in 2017 and Australia in 2018.
He finally thanked  the 2  important companies related to the photographic market, CHROMALUXE and KOYLAB for their support to the project and to the professional photographers around the globe.