As with other years, September sees the opening of the submission period for the presentation of slides for the XVII edition of our Competition. The competition is, as always, open unrestrictedly to all mountain and nature photographers. This year, however, special attention will be paid to the younger photographers among us – those under 20 years of age – with the aim in mind of encouraging mountain and environment related values among them. To this end a special prize category has been created. You can access the competition rules and the application form from this Web site. From here it is also possible to contact the organisation should you have any queries, or suggestions you wish to make, concerning your participation.

RULES 2006
2006 APPLICATION FORM
CONTACT US

A brilliant award-giving ceremony closed the XVI edition of the Memorial María Luisa competition yesterday. The Cajastur Cultural Centre in Oviedo was full long before the start of the ceremony. Mountaineers, photograph enthusiasts, the media and general public witnessed the Argentinean Bernardo Giménez Hauscarriague, winner of this edition, receiving his prize personally from the Culture Minister of the Asturian Regional Government, Ana Rosa Migoya.

Previously, the stage was taken by the finalists, Enrique López Tapia de Inés, Juan José Sierra Alcalá and Jordi Gutiérrez Segura as well as the representatives of the Danish competitor Jesper Tonning and the Slovak Igor Koller, who received their prizes from the representative of Cajastur, an entity that has co-operated with the Competition, César Menéndez Claverol. They all expressed their gratitude and satisfaction for the recognition given to their photographs.

A few minutes after the ceremony began, the speaker gave the floor to Melchor Fernández, Assistant General Manager of La Nueva España newspaper, who brilliantly summarised the spirit of this competition in his speech: the promotion and protection of the mountains and their natural environment, the values transmitted and how the mountains are shared with the public in general when they are photographed and presented as slides.

Then, one of the moments that had generated the greatest expectation arrived: an audiovisual presentation which, with an excellent soundtrack, displayed the best slides that had taken part in this XVI Memorial Maria Luisa competition. The said presentation ended with a retrospective look at events that had taken place since 1990 when the competition began.

As is usually the case, the night ended with a meal where, once again, the prize-winners, friends and organisation celebrated the success of the competition.

The Memorial María Luisa Award has awarded its latest prizes, those that correspond to the XVI Edition for the year 2005, which is about to come to an end. This time, contrary to other editions, where most of the photographers who won prizes were from our country, several of the most important prizes have been awarded to people from abroad.

The Argentinean Bernardo Jiménez Hauscarriague was unable to hide his joy when, on his birthday and when the year 2006 was just starting, he received a call from the Organisation. “What a nice piece of news” were his first words.

For the first time since the Memorial Awards began back in 1990, the Organisation has decided to grant three prizes in stead of the classic, and highly acclaimed, first prize. This is a way of taking into consideration suggestions offered by the people who have taken part in the competition and of making it easier for the jury to select the slides, more so, taking into account the ever higher quality of competitors each year.

The second prize went to Jordi Gutiérrez Segura from Barcelona with a slide on the Cervino and the third prize went to the Danish competitor Jesper Tonning with a photograph of a tree in the middle of winter.

A special was awarded in the Alpinism/climbing section. In this case, the winner was Igor Koller from Slovakia.

Climbing was the main feature

Each edition is different to previous editions. For some reason, each year, a certain theme seems to stand out above the rest, making it unique. This year, the main feature has been rock climbing and the first prize went to a spectacular photograph of two climbers, something that had never happened in any of the previous editions.

As in previous editions, the flora, fauna and other disciplines linked to mountains were also taken into account during the jury's deliberations, and special mentions were granted to seven themes.

At the close of this XVI Edition, the competition has received photographs from 43 countries.

The award giving ceremony will be held next Friday 17th February at the Cajastur Culture Centre in Oviedo. Entrance is free and all those present will be given a copy of “Grandes Espacios”, the Memorial María Luisa official magazine. The organisation has confirmed the presence of the winner, the Argentinean Bernardo Jiménez.

All the photographs that have won awards, the finalists and those that have received special mentions may be viewed on the organisation’s official web site: www.memorialmarialuisa.com.

WINNER OF THE XVI EDITION
BERNARDO GIMÉNEZ HAUSCARRIAGUE (Argentina)
“AFRICA”

SECOND PRIZE
JORDI GUTIERREZ SEGURA (Barcelona)
”CERVINO Y SU LUNA”

THIRD PRIZE
JESPER TONNING (Denmark)
”BRICH TREES AND PINK SKY”

SPECIAL ROCK CLIMBING PRIZE
IGOR KOLLER (Slovakia)
”THE ROUTE INDIAN – KALAMARKA”

FINALISTS:

VITTORIO RICCI (Italy)
”FISHLAKE NATIONAL FOREST”

FCO. JAVIER SOBRINO SAN MARTIN (Castellón)
”ATARDECER EN LAS TRES SORORES”

JOSEP PLANIOL SALVA (Gerona)
”CAMI DEL CIM”

ENRIQUE LOPEZ-TAPIA DE INES (Madrid)
”AMANECER EN EL CHO OYU”

MIRKO BIJUKLIC (Slovenia)
”ST – 1”

ANTONIO REAL HURTADO (Albacete)
”ATARDECER EN LARRA”

OTON NAGLOST (Slovenia)
”MORNING”

GOTZON ARRIBAS AMESTOY (Vitoria)
”TRABAJOS DE ALTURA”

JUAN JOSE SIERRA ALCALA (Madrid)
”ARISTA”

SEMI-FINALISTS:

IMANOL DIAZ DE GARAIO ESNAOLA (Urretxu)
”CERVINO I”

VOTTORIO RICCI (Italy)
”MATI LASAL NATIONAL FOREST”

DARIO FERRANDI (Italy)
”COTTON GRASS”

FRANCOIS LAURENS (France)
”EN MONTAT SUR LA DUNE – ARGELIA”

EFRAIN M. PADRO GONZALEZ (U.S.A.)
”MOON OVER HALLETT”

SPECIAL MENTIONS BY THE JURY ON THE BEST THEMATIC SLIDES:

Hiking photograph:
IÑAKI BERGERA SERRANO (Pamplona)
”EL CAMINO VERDE”

Creative photograph:
ISABEL DIEZ SAN VICENTE (Basauri)
”MOVIMIENTO”

Mountain habitat:
BRENDT FISCHER (Germany)
”PARQUE NACIONAL VANOISE”

Nocturnal photograph:
JESUS NAVAS FERNÁNDEZ (Málaga) ”NOCHE SOBRE EL TORCAL ANTEQUERA”

Flora
: MARC VAN AERDE (Belgium)
”CORNUS SUECICA”

Mammals:
ARMANDO MANICIATI (Italy)
”LINX PORTRAIT”

Birds:
ROBERTO GONZALEZ LUIS (Alava)
”MILANO REAL”