Terna’s Driving Energy Award 2023 Sees Record Participation in Contemporary Photography

Terna’s Driving Energy Award 2023 Sees Record Participation in Contemporary Photography

(IN BRIEF) Terna’s Driving Energy Award 2023 – Contemporary Photography has received a record number of participants, with 2,800 photographs submitted from all regions and provinces of Italy. The second edition of the award focuses on the theme “In praise of balance,” reflecting Terna’s mission of guaranteeing the balance of energy produced and consumed. The high-profile and diverse submissions demonstrate a broad and comprehensive artistic scene in Italian photography, highlighting unique interpretations of the concept of balance. The award categories include Senior, Youth, Amateur, Art Academy Special Commendation, and Terna’s Highest Voted Work. The finalists’ works will be showcased in a free exhibition in Rome, and the winners will be announced on September 26.

(PRESS RELEASE) ROME, 14-Jul-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — The 2023 edition of Driving Energy Award 2023 – Contemporary Photography, run by Terna, has seen a record number of participants: 2,800 photographs from 20 Italian regions and all 107 provinces, with the age of participants ranging from 18 to 89 years.

These are the figures marking the success of the second edition of the award and the theme for this edition, “In praise of balance”, a key cultural concept and a fundamental cornerstone of Terna’s mission, which sees it guaranteeing the balancing of energy produced and consumed, 365 days a year, allowing optimal performance of the electricity system and enabling the energy transition.

The submissions, more than twice those received last edition, represent one of the broadest and most comprehensive artistic scenes of recent years in Italian photography, not only demographically but also geographically. This ample and consistent participation, in quantitative and qualitative terms, reveals a high-profile contemporary interpretation of the theme for this award, which received the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic again this year.

The artistic response to the theme, In praise of balance, has been so broad and articulated, reaching an average of 20 submissions per day over the 136 days of the application period, offering a surprising picture of what balance means for Italians: a dynamic concept, which is complex and in constant evolution, just like Terna’s operations. The huge number of subjects captured, stylistic approaches employed and, last but not least, the many topics handled through the works, are of unique creative and expressive value.

The photographs of the 2,800 participants taking part in the Award are now under scrutiny by the jury, chaired by Lorenza Bravetta, consultant in the field of photography and curator for Photography, Film, and New Media at La Trienniale di Milano, is composed of Maria Alicata, teacher and curator; Diane Dufour, editor and curator; Andrea Purgatori, journalist and television writer; Francesco Zanot, curator and teacher; and Massimiliano Paolucci, Director of External Relations, Institutional Affairs and Sustainability at Terna. The Driving Energy Award 2023 establishes that the jury is supported not only by curator, Marco Delogu, but also by an Executive Committee made up of Igor De Biasio and Giuseppina Di Foggia, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Terna, respectively.

“The extraordinary level of participation this year is an important achievement, underlining various aspects. One is certainly the strength of the theme, which has proved to be a great creative inspiration for the photographic community. Then there is the involvement across all of Italy. It is as if we asked the whole country “What is balance for you?”, and the whole country replied, from the largest cities to the smallest urban centres. Then there is the artistic value, demonstrated by the high quality of the works received. The data encourages us to declare that the Driving Energy Award, in just two years, has established itself as a point of reference for Italian photography”, stated Marco Delogu, curator of the Award and Chairman of Azienda Speciale Palaexpo.

All of the award categories saw excellent participation: Senior (31 years and above) with prize value of € 15,000, Youth (up to 30 years) with prize value of € 5,000, Amateur (open to those who are neither “professionals” nor “authors”) with prize value of € 5,000, Art Academy Special Commendation (dedicated to students enrolled at higher-education institutions in the field of photography) with prize value of € 2,000 and Terna’s Highest Voted Work with prize value of € 2,000, which will be awarded by the “largest jury in Italy”, made up of 5,600 Terna people.

In the Youth category, there is a notably high level of female participation, at 57% of the total, confirming Terna’s commitment to the theme of gender inclusivity and the desire to further promote future generations of artists.

The Honorary Committee – composed of winners of the previous edition, Paolo Ventura, Gaia Renis, Mohamed Keita, Eva Frapiccini and Andrea Botto – is now evaluating the works submitted for the Art Academy Special Commendation, in order to identify a young winner to whom the 2022 winners will hand over.

The 40 photographs selected as finalists, including the winning works, will be presented in a free exhibition at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, from 26 September, the day on which the five winners will be announced, until 15 October. The works will also be published in the fourth edition of the Driving Energy photographic volume, as the official catalogue for the Award.

All the information on the next stages of the Award are available on the official website https://premiodrivingenergy.terna.it/en/.

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SOURCE: Terna