Above+Beyond and Ravensbourne University London Reveal Winners of Pandemic Photography Competition

Participants were asked to submit up to five photographs and to explain the story behind the set of images

Independent creative agency Above+Beyond and Ravensbourne University London have announced the winner of their 'Beyond Us' project, a competition to find the brightest emerging photography talent and confront the advertising industry with real audience stories.

And the winner is Ivana Havlikova. Ivana will enjoy a bespoke summer internship at Above+Beyond, with the opportunity to shadow a professional photographer on a shoot, or support work on one of the agency’s clients, which include Subway and Walgreens Boots Alliance beauty brands.

The winner and the runners up will have their work published on the Beyond Us official Instagram feed which has been set up to provide an ongoing platform for creative, visually engaging content which “pops” the adland bubble.

The competition, which launched in March 2021, set out to build a collective portrait of a nation in lockdown that went beyond the images usually shown by the advertising industry. Ravensbourne students were asked to provide a window onto their worlds and to photograph the people, things and places that encapsulate life in lockdown.

Participants were asked to submit up to five photographs and to explain the story behind the set of images, giving them a chance to express their own experiences as well as to understand the challenges of fulfilling a commercial brief.

An expert judging panel included Above+Beyond’s Executive Creative Director, Dom Goldman, and picture editor/creative consultant Marian Paterson. They were looking for individuality, narrative, position and framing, as well as consistency across the body of work submitted and response to feedback.

Zaid Al-Zaidy, Above+Beyond’s CEO, who was recently appointed to Ravensbourne’s Board of Governors, hopes that the partnership will help to democratize the ad industry by increasing the inclusion of talent from groups who are currently under represented, as well as shining a light on real audience perspectives.

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