IAPB announces 2022 World Sight Day photo competition winners

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) has revealed the winners of the World Sight Day 2022 Photo Competition.

This year’s recognition for Professional Photo of the Year went to Kwame Yeboah for the image ‘Eye Screening at Jukwa, Ghana.’

The photograph “captures the excitement and willingness of the community members to get their eyes examined,” as an eye care professional checks an individual’s visual acuity ahead of a consultation and eye exam.

Laite Tuiloma received the accolade for Winning Amateur Photo of the Year with ‘Refraction.’

Taken in Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Tuiloma explained: “Space is a big barrier here and we don’t have an actual eye clinic. I operate in what once was an eye clinic, which has been closed since 2016, and is now a storage space for COVID-19 supplies.”

The photograph depicts a dentist with limited vision receiving a sight test, with Tuiloma commenting: “My picture basically portrays the importance of having everyone, especially health professionals, with good vision. Which improves the health service delivery.”

The winners were chosen from 960 images submitted from over 60 countries, by an independent panel of seven judges.

Commenting on the professional photo of the year, Judge Imraan Gallo, a visually impaired photographer and advocate for artists with disabilities, said: “The image encompasses the broader reach of eye health services to remote parts of the world.”

Gallo added: “It truly represents that we should strive to provide these services to all.”

Fellow judge, Caroline Casey, founder and creator of The Valuable 500, as well as IAPB president, said of the importance of using photographs to highlight the impact of eye care: “It makes visible the issue that is a global blind spot.”

The judging panel also included photojournalist David Katz and founder of the David Katz Foundation; photojournalist Dean Saffron; IAPB Eye Health Hero, Dr Princess Ifeoma Ike; Julie-Anne Davies, professional photographer and winner of the World Sight Day 2021 photo competition; and Marge Axelrad, senior vice president and editorial director, Vision Monday and VMail.

Simon Darvill, head of communications and campaigns for the IAPB, suggested the success of the competition reflects a “significant leap” in engagement for World Sight Day, adding: “It is staggering the way people have encompassed and celebrated World Sight Day like never before.”

“Since its inception in 2015, the World Sight Day Photo Competition, supported by Bayer, has helped tell the story of eye care; the social and economic impact of having accessible, available and affordable eye care and the flip side,” Darvill continued.

Thanking all participants and congratulation the competition winners, he added: “We are thrilled that so many photographers are keen to be part of helping tell that story.

More information on the winning photographs, as well as the finalists, can be found on the IAPB website.

In October, OT heard from IAPB chief executive, Peter Holland, about the World Sight Day campaign and highlighting the importance of eye health as a developmental, social and economic issue. Read more from OT’s Industry profile.