1. Due to the movement restriction orders and social distancing directives in almost all cities around the world, many photographers will be unable to complete their projects or photograph new portraits outdoors.

2. With this in mind, KLPA will be extending the current deadline of 30 April 2020 to 30 May 2020, Midnight UTC+8

3. In addition, KLPA is relaxing Rule 4.h. Photographers may now submit portraits taken from 2015 to 2020, to allow those who are not able to produce new work at all during the current situation to enter.

About

Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards 2020 Portrait Prize is now open for submissions. This year we are awarding prizes to a higher number of photographers than before. As well as the regular SINGLE IMAGE PORTRAIT category, we are also awarding grants to five photographers in the PHOTO ESSAY PROJECT category. Deadline 30 April 2020.

What winners receive

Single Image Category : Three top prizes at $3000, $1500 and $500 Photo Essay Project Grants : Five awards of $1000 each will be awarded in June to enable the completion of the projects

45 finalists and winners will have their work exhibited at ILHAM Gallery in Kuala Lumpur in September and also screened at international festivals in 2020. These are :

Auckland Festival of Photography, New Zealand
Fotofestiwal, Lodz, Poland
Suwon International Photo Festival, South Korea
Yakushima Photo Festival, Japan

About the organization

KLPA is an independent international portrait photography prize, started in 2009 by a group of dedicated Malaysian photographers and supporters led by director Steven Lee, for the promotion and advocacy portraiture in contemporary photography practice. Based in Kuala Lumpur, it serves as a vital platform to inform, educate and promote good photography practice in South East Asia.

Juror information

Our jury will look at originality and context of submissions, and the relevance of projects to their statements in today’s fast-paced visual environments.

KENNY LOH
Photographer
Kenny started his career in photography as a commercial photographer, working in the advertising industry. He studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Photography, Providence, USA. Having spent a number of years working in Taiwan and China, returning to Malaysia in 2009 after spending the better part of the previous 20 years out of the country, was disconcerting. This led him on a journey of re-discovery that would take him across the length and breadth of Malaysia with his camera.

Over the next 3 years, Kenny interviewed and photographed people from all walks of live throughout Malaysia. In 2013, the book, Born in Malaysia – A Photographer’s Journey, was published. The book was awarded the National Book Award by the National Book Foundation. In 2016, the Bahasa Malaysia edition of his first book was published and in 2019, Born in Malaysia – A Story of Kuala Lumpur, reached the bookstores. Kenny still shoots on assignment for corporate clients and also portrait commissions. www.kennyloh.com

HALEY MORRIS-CAFIERO
Photographer / Educator
Haley Morris-Cafiero is part performer, part artist, part provocateur, part spectator and uses a camera to record these actions. Originally from the United States, she is now living in the UK permanently. Haley’s photographic work has been shown in traditional and experimental exhibitions all over the world. Her photographs have been published in many stories in online and print media sites and television shows such as The New York Times, Le Monde and CBS This Morning. Born in Atlanta, she is a graduate of the University of North Florida, where she earned a BA in Photography and a BFA in Ceramics in 1999. Nominated for the Prix Pictet in 2014 and a 2016 Fulbright finalist, she holds a MFA from the University of Arizona in Art. She serves on the Board of Trustees of Belfast Exposed Gallery, and is a Lecturer of Photography and Video at the Belfast School of Arts, Ulster University. www.haleymorriscafiero.com

CAROL KÖRTING
Photo Editor, Leica Fotografie International - LFI Magazine
Carol Körting was born in Bogotá, Colombia. She moved to Germany and after working as a freelance photographer, she studied photo editing at the Ostkreuz Schule für Fotografie in Berlin. She has collaborated as a photo editor at Der Freitag and at Zeit-Magazine in Berlin and she was the photo editor for the Leica M Magazine. Currently she works as photo editor and scout photographer for Leica Fotografie International - LFI, the independent magazine which features the best Leica photographers. She has been invited as a curator, to the 20 Photographers convention in Veracruz, Mexico in collaboration with the Cuatro Caminos Photography Museum. Carol has also given talks and presentations about self-promotion tools at the VII Masterclass in Berlin and in Bilbao at the Basquedokfestival. She moderated an interview with Charlotte Schmitz at the F3-freiraum für fotografie in Berlin.
www.lfi-online.de

JESSICA CHAN
Director, Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival / Editor-in-chief, PCP Publications During her tenure as an engineer, Jessica had the freedom to meddle with micro images in scanning electron microscopes. This has largely shaped the concept of her photography. She would often seek the hidden fantasies and trace the imaginative visions in an array of seemingly unexciting surfaces. Following her passion she found fulfilment in her role as editor-in-chief for the publications Advanced Images, Travelution & Fotografika; and she is also the director of the Kuala Lumpur Photography Festival. Currently, she has everything to do with photography : from training to travel, review, curating, exhibitions and also meaningful undertakings to nurture young photographers. www.klpf.com.my

SC SHEKAR
Photographer
SC Shekar is a renowned Malaysian photojournalist who started his career at a local newspaper in the early 1980s upon completing his tertiary education in Australia. After many years of living abroad, he returned home in 1994 to pursue his passion for documenting South East Asia’s rich and diverse cultures with a focus on Malaysia and her people. The body of work which he has accumulated over the last 30 years has resulted in the publication of more than 27 books. Shekar has also exhibited around the world and his photographic works are collected by museums, corporations and private owners. Shekar describes his work as a combination of “documentary photography” and “ethnography portraiture” which has its roots planted in the fields of anthropology and sociology. It is a study of mankind, ways of life, customs, beliefs and behaviour. He is also the owner of Beagle Books Pte. Ltd, a publishing house that specialises in large-format books. www.scshekar.com