Announcing the winners of Zenith-photo awards 2013 “Muslims in Germany”

Dubai, 12 December 2013 – The winners of this year's zenith photo award »Muslims in Germany« have been chosen. The Jury – comprised of representatives from Der Spiegel (Klaus Brinkbäumer), Zaman (Süleiman Bag), Leica Fotografie International (Carol Körting), Bild am Sonntag (Marion Horn) and zenith (Marcel Mettelsiefen) as well as the policy advisor on intercultural issues to the Berlin city administration, Sawsan Chebli, awarded the following contributions:

1. : Living in the middle of cultural confluence by L.M. Arif Relano Oba. »The photo essay presents the everyday life of Indonesia-born Masyitah in Germany. The pictures reflect her loneliness in an unknown world without actually being lonely«, explains Marion Horn, editor-in-chief of Bild am Sonntag, for the selection committee. The photos evoke positive feelings and enable the viewer to participate in Masyitah's life.

2. The result of good teamwork: Spouses Thomas Potthoff and Neziha Cetinkaya-Potthof presented portraits of mixed Christian-Muslim couples based in Germany. Integration success stories is the title of their work. Potthoff and his wife think, these mixed couples present a »role-model and motivation for a tolerant and respectful society«.

3. : A Ray of hope growing in the shadows – Ahmadiyya in Germany by Benjamin Kilb made the third rank. In his words, his photo essay highlights »an Islamic reformist movement that has been part of German society for about ninety years«. In his concept paper, Kilb states that his pictures show that »a symbiotic co-existence between Islam and the German society is possible«.

Users of zenithonline.de also voted for their favorite competitor: Mehmet Ali Alici won the people's choice award with his documentary New Language. His pictures focus on the active involvement of young German Muslims in the social and cultural realm, as Alici describes.

Robert Chatterjee, project director and editor-in-chief of zenithonline.de, highlighted the diversity in age and ethnicity of this year's competitors: »Due to the diversity of the competitors, we get insights that differ from the common picture of Muslim life in Germany, drawn by the media. That is exactly the intent and the motivation for running this competition.«

The total prize value of the annual zenith photo award amounts to 4.500 Euro. The competition is organized by the magazine zenith in co-operation with Mercator Foundation and, in 2013, the German Foreign Office. »This photo competition serves the social discourse in Germany. It shows the variety of Muslim life in our country and thereby challenges prejudiced or antiquated perspectives«, explains Bernhard Lorentz, CEO of Mercator Foundation.

Also for the first time, an international audience was able to rate the competition entries via the English version of zenithonline.de. Several international online platforms in the Muslim world like almaniah.com have reported on the zenith photo award 2013 and shed light on the German debate on integration and Muslim communities.

The 2014 edition of the zenith photo award will for the first time honor entries in two different categories: A main award for professional photographers and a junior award for talented amateur photographers.