Muscat – Seventeen year old Omani photographer Wafa Abdulmajeed has won the ninth edition of ‘Moments’ – kids category, the annual regional photography competition conducted by National Geographic Abu Dhabi (NGAD).  

Winners were selected from a shortlist of 90 photos and over 50,000 total submissions from across the Arab World.  

Wafa turned her lens to Muttrah Souq in Muscat, one of the oldest souqs in the Arab world, and a thriving centre for commerce to this day. There, she captured the story of a shopkeeper selling an array of precious stones, rosary beads, and traditional daggers, a business that has been passed over several generations.

NGAD and Almarai announced the winners for the ninth edition of ‘Moments’, the annual competition to nurture talents of aspiring regional photographers, in Dubai on Tuesday.  

The announcement was made at an unveiling event at the Youth Hub at Emirates Towers in Dubai in the presence of executives from National Geographic Abu Dhabi, Almarai, the photography community, members of the press, Youth Hub members and other distinguished guests.

Held under the theme of ‘Souqs of the Middle East’, the 2019 ‘Moments’ edition captured the diversity and stories of markets from around the Arab world, which have been at the heart of the region’s culture and history.  

Each photograph carries with it an authentic, detailed and complete description of the story behind the image, which aims to add geographic, social and cultural context to the photo.

There are two winners in this year’s edition of ‘Moments’, one in the adult category and another in the kids category, selected from among 90 submissions from across the Arab world. Both winners this year are women, attesting to a marked increase of budding female photographers in the Moments competition, and reflecting a wider trend across the Arab world.

Lebanese photographer Zeinab Khalifeh won in the Adult category, whose photograph captured a daily scene from the Old Souq in Saida, a historic city in the South of Lebanon, known for its wide display of traditional artefacts and items, radiating the souq’s importance as a destination for visitors and photographers alike.  

Winners in the adult category will have their photograph printed in the National Geographic magazine Arabic edition and earn a trip of a lifetime, a ten-day expedition worth US$10,000, where they will be mentored by National Geographic expert photographers, in addition to US$5,000 photography equipment.  

The winner in the kids category will receive photography equipment worth US$5,000 and have her photograph printed in the National Geographic magazine Arabic edition.  

The selection was made by the competition’s judging panel, Hussam R Abdulqader, CMO of Almarai and two-time Pulitzer prize-winner and National Geographic photographer Mohammad Muheisen.