Canon announced the winners of the New Cosmos of Photography 2016 competition. The award selection jury, consisting of professional photographers and international art experts, chose seven Excellence Award winners and 14 Honorable Mention Award winners from a total of 1,723 participants, representing a 14% increase compared to the previous year.
This year, the Honorary Distinction Award was presented to the German Benjamin Breitkopf. His participation consisted of a visual exhibition on the political, historical and cultural situation regarding the 2014 revolution in Ukraine. It records not only the unique characteristics of the country's landscapes, urban scenery and people, but also the cultural roots and practices, the rites, religious beliefs and traditions, folk songs and conflicting viewpoints. 
All of this combined provides an in‑depth look at Ukrainian cultural identity during a period of rapid changes for this nation. The judges were fascinated by Breitkopf's approach, which uses a three‑channel video‑recording installation, reflecting the multiple layers and voices presented in this work.
All the images that were awarded in this year's competition will be exhibited at the New Cosmos of Photography Tokyo Exhibition (Oct 29 – Nov 20, 2016) where the winner of the Grand Prize will be announced.
The Grand Prize will be accompanied by a cash prize of 1 million Japanese yen and the right to hold a personal exhibition at the New Cosmos of Photography 2017. The other winners of Excellence Awards and Honorary Distinctions will also receive cash prizes and the right to exhibit their best creations at this year's exhibition.
“We are overjoyed to see an even larger number of international photographers participating in the New Cosmos of Photography competition”, commented Junko Kimura, General Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility, Canon Inc.
“Every day, we see hundreds of images and in this competition we broaden the horizons of photography. It is amazing to see the creative ways and unexpected perspectives that participants use to convey their ideas, through the image.”.
For more information about this year's Canon New Cosmos of Photography competition, visit the relevant site: www.canon.com/scsa/newcosmos/
The winners of the Canon New Cosmos of Photography 2016 competition:
Excellence Award Winners:
- Sonoko Sakurai (selected by: Anna Dannemann)
- Kim Sajik (selected by: Osamu James Nakagawa)
- Yuu Matsui (selected by: Erin O’Toole)
- Kuta Takashima (selected by: Hiraki Sawa)
- Takuya Matsuura (selected by: Tomoko Sawada)
- Natsumi Kawai (selected by: Toshio Shibata)
- Kim Hyunseok (selected by: Minoru Shimizu)
Award Winners of Honorary Distinctions:
- Benjamin Breitkopf, Sayako Kazui (selected by: Anna Dannemann)
- Hideaki Maki, Hiroshi Miyamoto (selected by: Osamu James Nakagawa)
- Takayuki Narita, Mone Kobayashi (selected by: Erin O’Toole)
- Kohei Fujisawa, Snack Sono (selected by: Hiraki Sawa)
- Toshihiro Anzai, Yu Nozaki (selected by: Tomoko Sawada)
- Kenta Okamoto, Sakiko Kanno (selected by: Toshio Shibata)
- Hiroyuki Otsuka, Kazuomi Itou (selected by: Minoru Shimizu)
