Jury to include Rut Blees Luxemburg, Simon Frederick and Oliviero Toscani 

The actress Isabella Rossellini has today been announced as host for Master of Photography, a new eight-part European talent contest airing on Sky Arts in May 2016. Three photographers of international renown have also been announced as the jury for the show: Rut Blees Luxemburg, Simon Frederick and Oliviero Toscani will work with the contestants and together select the recipient of the biggest prize ever offered in a European photography competition: €150,000. 

Open to both professional and amateur photographers, a call for entries made in December was hugely successful, drawing applicants from across the continent. The final line-up of 12 includes Chiara Stampacchia (Italy), Gabriele Micalizzi (Italy), Gina Soden (UK), Lanka Perren (France), Laura Zalenga (Germany), Marta Lallana Garcia (Spain), Neal Gruer (UK), Rupert Frere (UK), Sebastian Siebel (Germany), Yan Revazov (Russia), Dragica Carlin (Croatia), Hongwei Tang (Austria). In addition to the substantial financial award, the final photograph by the winner will be donated for display in a leading European museum.

Also featuring special guests including international photographers and celebrities, Master of Photography has been created by the Sky Arts Production Hub, a commissioning and production centre of excellence dedicated to creating quality arts programmes for Sky’s 21 million customers across the UK and Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. The series will include a series of photographic challenges at locations across Europe designed to test the participants abilities across a range of styles and disciplines.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “We’re delighted to have such a prestigious and exciting line-up on board for Master of Photography. Today’s connected world saturates us with snapshots of fleeting moments, but the photographs that last are the result of skill, dedication and hours of hard work behind the lens. We hope this programme will demonstrate just how powerful and important photography remains, and that we bring some extraordinary undiscovered talent to light in the process.” 

The Sky Arts Production Hub will focus on producing pan-European events for customers across all Sky territories in addition to content locally commissioned. The arts initiative is one of the first major projects to come out of the newly enlarged Sky group and demonstrates the opportunity to launch new services to more customers. By bringing the three Sky businesses together, Sky is sharing its strengths and expertise to extend its lead in content and accelerate innovation across all the markets in which it operates. 

For more information, please contact:

Benjamin Ward

benjamin@benjward.com 

+44 (0) 7837 134 193

Skyentpress@sky.uk

For images go to seac.bskyb.com

Notes to Editors

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