Online voting opens for 9mobile Photography Competition

In a bid to select the best of entries for its Photography competition while creating excitement amongst photography enthusiasts, award-winning telecommunication company, 9mobile, has opened its portal to enable interested Nigerians cast their votes online for the winner of the ‘Voters’ Choice’ category, of the competition’s 2018 edition.

The online public voting kicked off on Monday, November 5, and will run until Monday, November 19, 2018.

Prior to this public voting, photographs submitted during the call for entries which held from September 17 to October 31, were evaluated by an internal evaluation committee in line with the competition’s entry criteria. The qualifying entries made the “Top 100”.

The Top 100 images are now being displayed on the portal http://photo.9mobile.com.ng/ for a period of two weeks, for the public to vote their favourite images. The image with the highest votes will emerge as winner of a prize category of the photography competition, referred to as the ‘Voters’ Choice’ category.

Similarly, out of the Top 100, a three-member judging panel will also select the “Top Three” images, and they will be categorised as the first, second and third prize winners respectively. The judges comprise creative photographer, Kola Oshalusi; documentary photographer, Bernard Kalu; and award-winning photo-journalist, Aisha Augie-Kuta.
Speaking on the milestone achieved by the 9mobile Photography Competition so far, Director of Brands and Experience, Elvis Ogiemwanye, expressed excitement at the impressive higher number of images that were received, and noted that the positive enthusiasm elicited by the competition was a testament that many Nigerians appreciate photography as a rewarding activity.

“The hundreds of entries received from all over the country made us truly excited. We are passionate about helping Nigerians to fulfil their dreams and develop their talents; and the 9mobile Photography Competition is one of such platforms that enable us deliver on this promise”, he said.

Ogiemwanye added that the public voting is part of the innovation to make Nigerians own the competition and to further demonstrate the premium the telco places on its customers and stakeholders. He also stated that those whose entries made the Top 100 had been sent an email notifying them of their feat, while a link to their entries had also been shared so they can share with family and friends.

The “Top 3” list will be announced on November 27, 2018, while the winner and the first and second runners-up respectively will be announced on December 6 this year.

The theme of this year’s competition is ‘9ja: My Grind, My Hustle’, in celebration of individuals that labour daily to make ends meet, those who appreciate the importance of hard work, and have a drive for success and fulfilment.

The 9mobile Photography Competition is a talent development initiative by the telco aimed to engage and empower budding photographers using the power of digital media.

In 2017, budding photographer, Oluwaseun Otitoola, won the 9mobile Photography Competition with his entry titled “Fragment of CMS Bookshop Building”, while Amanda Ihemebiri (The NestOil Tower) and Taiwo Omotosho, (Lines Side by Side) emerged first and second runners-up respectively.