Congratulations to the winner of this year’s Ryan R. Gibbs Award for Photography — Muneb Nassar for “A Peace Player in Wartime.”
Selected by judge Jane Rule Burdine, Muneb Nassar will receive $400, and his work will be published in Issue 11.1. We are honroed to share this brave and talented artist’s work.
A selection from “A Peace Player in Wartime”
What the Judge, Jane Rule Burdine said about the series:
“Despite the ravages of war depicted in these images, I am struck by the joy in Nassar’s use of color, as well as in the faces of the people who are entertained by the lone guitar player. Whether playing alone or to an audience, in bombed out ruins or in the vibrant multi-colored tent, Nassar captures the essence of the peace player, and we feel joined in the player’s joy and his mission. Nassar photographs the hope that is possible even in war, evidenced by the image of the guitar player playing alone in front of a fire next to a collapsed mural in a bombed out building.”
Muneb Nassar, born in 2001, is a photojournalist covering news stories with a focus on social issues. He is currently working in Turkey as a freelance photographer for Anadolu ajans?, Zuma Press and many other international agencies. He began his career in photojournalism as a photographer and independent reporter in 2014, covering life under siege in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Idlib and the countryside of Aleppo, until early 2020, documenting massacres, destruction and daily life. Air strikes and bombing are an almost daily occurrence. During the ten years he lived under siege in his city, he has won many international awards.
Congratulations also to this year’s finalists:
Christy Lorio, “The Perpetual Threat of Loss”
Alberto Urraca, “What a Cozzy Place!”
Yexin Qiu, “Silent River”
Terry Konrath, “Portraits”
About our contest:
For the Ryan R Gibbs Photography Contest, New Delta Review seeks a series of 5-11 photographs to be featured in our journal’s Winter issue. Together, the photographs should tell a story, or be centered on a unified theme of the artist’s choosing.
Check out last year’s winning series, Andrea “Philly” Walls’s In the Sweet Summertime, here.
Judge: Jane Rule Burdine
Prize: $400 and publication in Issue 11.1 of NDR
Deadline: November 16, 2020
Entry Fee: $5, free after November 1
Submit here.
Additional Submission Guidelines:
- All entries must be the original, previously unpublished work of the entrant.
- Each entry must be accompanied by an entry fee.
- Each entrant can submit a maximum of two separate entries.
- All work must be submitted through Submittable.
- Send only high quality med-res JPG files.
- Please submit 5-11 photographs as JPG or as a single zip file.
- Submissions will first be looked at by the staff of New Delta Review, who will select the finalists. These works will be passed on to our judge.
- Family, friends and previous students of the judge are ineligible for participation. Current students and faculty of LSU are also ineligible.
About this year’s judge:
Jane Rule Burdine is a legendary Southern photographer. A native of Greenville, Mississippi, she has been living and working in north Mississippi since 1984. The first book of her work, Delta Deep Down, was published by University Press of Mississippi in September of 2008. A documentary about Jane Rule’s life, Under Her Skin, (dir. by Kelsey and Rémy Bennett) premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. She now lives in Taylor, MS, where she served as mayor for twelve years.
About Ryan R. Gibbs: This award is in honor of Ryan R. Gibbs (1981-2012), a gifted editor for New Delta Review, an incredible writer of fiction and screenplays, a talented photographer, and, above all, a dear friend. New Delta Review is honored to host this annual award, which was made possible by a generous endowment from his parents, in his name.