The four best entries for a EU competition are revealed

Winning image by Joseph Smith

Press Release:

Ján Figel', European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth, has announced the winners of the EU "Cultures on my street" photo competition. The competition, organised under the umbrella of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, attracted more than 2,000 entries in response to an invitation to submit photos on the theme of intercultural dialogue in Europe.  Over 70 photos were received from the UK alone.

Launched in March, "Cultures on my street" invited anyone with a camera and a sense of curiosity to portray their own vision of how cultures meet and mix in their neighbourhood or community. The four best entries and a shortlist of runners-up were revealed yesterday at an awards ceremony in the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels.

"The high level of interest from across Europe shows that this competition captured the imagination of European residents" said Commissioner Figel' at the award ceremony. "The many different approaches the entrants took to portraying intercultural dialogue underlined both the rich cultural diversity of Europe, and the strong common values that unite it."

A professional jury chose three winners whose photos were judged according to their technical merit, creativity and originality in portraying the concept of "intercultural dialogue", appeal and eye-catching qualities. A fourth prize-winner, the "Public's Favourite", was chosen through a system of online voting by the European public. All winners receive professional photographic equipment and travel grants to European capitals, with a total value of ¤15,000.

First prize was awarded to Joseph Smith from Malta for his image "Village cobbler". Second prize was awarded to Nikolaj Lund from Denmark for his photo "Open Minds". Third prize went to Jérôme Clair from France for his image "Isolé du jeu" (Isolated from the game). The "Public's Favourite" prize was awarded to Simon Vansteenwinckel from Belgium for his image, "Fairy Tales 1".

Chris Wainwright, president of The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) and chair of the jury, said: "The winning photos represent a range of approaches and individual experiences from across the European region and provide a rich mix of imagery that is at times highly personal, sometimes provocative and in all cases, produced with a high degree of compassion and sensitivity. The jury was impressed by the overall engagement of all the photographers who submitted material, even those not chosen for the final exhibition, as they demonstrated a desire and willingness to engage with the issue of intercultural dialogue by the very act of photographing and engaging with others through the camera."