PPA president, Ralph Romaguera, accepts the World Photographic Cup with members of Team USA. The Americans won the inaugural cup, Monday, Jan. 13, at Imaging USA in Phoenix.
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) members beat-out the best photography from 21 other countries for the cup.
Phoenix, Ariz. (PRWEB) January 24, 2014
While the country’s finest winter sports athletes gear up for the Sochi games, Team USA brought home the gold in a competition of a different kind.
The American team narrowly won the first-ever World Photographic Cup (WPC) against the best photography from countries across the globe. The event was held Monday, Jan. 13, at Imaging USA in Phoenix, Ariz.
The WPC was founded as a cooperative effort by The Federation of European Photographers (FEP) and Professional Photographers of America (PPA). Its singular goal is to unite photographers in a spirit of friendship and cooperation.
“The World Photographic Cup has been a long time coming,” said Ralph Romaguera, M.Photog.Cr., CPP, API, F-ASP, president of PPA’s board of directors. “It’s an amazing feeling to win the first cup here in our home country. We hope to see this event grow and grown and look forward to defending the title next year.”
Team USA went up against stiff competition—the best photography from 21 other countries—at the inaugural event. The American contingent narrowly defeated Team Australia by one point and third-place Team Portugal by two to capture the cup.
Each country was represented by only one team, which submitted up to three images in each of six categories: Portrait, Wedding, Commercial (including advertising, architecture, industrial, fashion), Illustrative/Digital art, Reportage/Photojournalistic and Landscape.
The judging was performed blindly by an international panel of 15 jurors, meaning they did not know which country an image had come from. The panel chose 10 finalists in each category and then awarded gold (five points), silver (three points) and bronze (one point) medals to the individual creator in each category. At the end of the competition, Team USA had amassed the most points to win the 2014 World Photographic Cup.
Entries for Team USA were chosen at the International Photographic Competition (IPC) last August in Atlanta. To be considered for entry to next year’s World Photographic Cup, U.S. photographers must first enter their images into the IPC.
For more information on the World Photographic Cup, visit WorldPhotographicCup.org.
About PPA
Professional Photographers of America (PPA) is the largest international non-profit association created by professional photographers, for professional photographers. Almost as long-lived as photography itself, PPA has roots that date back to 1869. It assists close to 27,000 members through protection, education and resources for their continued success. See how PPA helps photographers be more at ppa.com.