And the Winner of the 2019 Scotiabank Photography Award is …

Stephen Waddell (centre), winner of the 2019 Scotiabank Photography Award, with Barb Mason, Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank, and Edward Burtynsky, Co-founder of the award. Photo: Jamal Burger
Stephen Waddell (centre), winner of the 2019 Scotiabank Photography Award, with Barb Mason, Chief Human Resources Officer, Scotiabank, and Edward Burtynsky, Co-founder of the award. Photo: Jamal Burger

Stephen Waddell is already an established photographer, but his 2019 win of the ninth annual Scotiabank Photography Award, announced today at a gala reception in Toronto, will certainly take his career to the next level starting with an exhibition, a book and a cash prize.

Waddell, who is from Vancouver, BC, has earned the praise of his fellow artists and his work inspired renowned photographer and jury chair Edward Burtynsky to say, “Stephen’s refined photographic explorations evoke his keen awareness about the poetics of space and the history of painting, while also walking the line between documentary and intimately personal visualizations.” 

The award comes with a $50,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition during the 2020 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, and a book of his work will be published and distributed worldwide by art book publisher, Steidl.

The Scotiabank Photography Award is the largest and most prestigious annual peer-nominated and peer-reviewed award that recognizes the achievements of established mid-to-later career artists. Founded in 2010 with Burtynsky, the award celebrates the creative vision and accomplishments of some of Canada’s most gifted photographers, such as Moyra Davey (2018), Shelley Niro (2017), Suzy Lake (2016), Angela Grauerholz (2015), Mark Ruwedel (2014), Stan Douglas (2013), Arnaud Maggs (2012) and Lynne Cohen (2011).

Shannon Bool from Berlin, Germany and Althea Thauberger from North Vancouver, BC, Canada were this year’s finalists and will each receive cash prizes of $10,000.

While you’ll have to wait until next year to see Waddell’s work, the 2018 Scotiabank Photography Award winner Moyra Davey’s work on exhibit at the Ryerson Image Centre during the 2019 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival and beyond, free of charge, from May 1 – Aug. 4, 2019.

We’ll be bringing you more from CONTACT in the next weeks. 


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