During July 2013, the Embassy of Israel, in partnership with
Closer to Israel, ran the first of our Photo Competitions, to celebrate “My Israel at 65”. Competition entries were invited through Social Media or by Email and were aimed at capturing individual responses to “My Israel at 65”.
The Embassy received over 200 entries, an overwhelming response with some absolutely incredible photos. A panel of judges from the Embassy, including professional photographer Yakir Zur, and of course HE Ambassador Taub, selected the top 10 images and after much deliberation were able to select a winner.
The winning photograph, taken by Steven Winston of Glasgow, Scotland, captures a man reading his paper in Park Hayarkon, Tel Aviv. Steven described the photo as “A true Israeli pastime”.
HE Ambassador Taub and the selection panel particularly liked the winning image. It has so many dimensions. A Carmel delivery bicycle, with its owner taking time out to keep up with current world affairs, really is a lovely photographic metaphor for the people of Israel.
Not only did the Embassy receive such a brilliant number of entries, but we also received some very special photographs as a result of this competition. Michael Shaw sent to us some photographs of what was then British Mandate Palestine, pre-1948. These photographs, taken by his Aunt who was living there at the time, were a truly great addition to the images received as part of the competition.
A second photo received was from Malcolm Stuart. Malcolm had spent 2 weeks in the 60’s, with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, interviewing him about his life story. He gave us a unique, 1 of a kind, photograph of Ben-Gurion, sitting at his desk, surrounded by books.
The receipt of all of these fantastic images, as well as of course the entries to the competition, have really been a chance to explore peoples relationships with Israel at the tender age of 65. We look forward to running the competition again soon, and others so watch this space!
Steven will be receiving an Israeli Embassy Prize pack for winning our first competition