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The world’s twenty best yacht racing photographs of the year 2013 have been selected by both the international Jury and the public. The winners of the two categories will be announced and celebrated during the World Yacht Racing Forum, on December 11 in Gothenburg.

No less than eighty-two professional yacht racing photographers representing nineteen nations have submitted the photograph of their choice for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image of the Year 2013 award.

One month after the launch of the contest, the votes from the public are over whilst the international Jury has made its selection. The dedicated website has been visited by 100,000 individual visitors, and there have been close to 600,000 page views. No less than 31,809 people voted for what they consider as the years’ best yacht racing image.

“This edition of the contest is the most successful to date in terms of participation and public interest,” observes Bernard Schopfer, from MaxComm, the organiser of the contest. “It has given the opportunity to a wide public from all over the world to discover the work of the best yacht racing photographers, who often work in very difficult conditions. It has also revealed some talents from unexpected countries such as Greece and India, who obviously benefit from a great network of supporters.”

Commenting the quality of the photographs submitted, Volvo Ocean Race CEO and member of the jury Knut Frostad said that “they are all good and I really like the fact that there are many new names among them. The road to become a photographer is much shorter today as the digital world allows anyone to publish their work. There is a lot of great talent out there and this contest opens up an opportunity for new names to come up.”

Gary Jobson, long time America’s Cup TV commentator and vice-President of ISAF, added that “this contest is great because it helps to build appreciation for the sport of sailing.”

Two trophies will be awarded on December 11, in Gothenburg, during the World Yacht Racing Forum, with prizes offered by TAG Heuer and Nespresso.

The Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2013 (main prize) will be selected by an international and independent jury consisting of nine members.

The Public Award will be selected by the delegates from the World Yacht Racing Forum, who will be asked to name the best yacht racing photograph of the year out of the twenty pictures selected by the public on Internet.

The twenty selected photographers: Nikos Zagas, Charles Marion, Juerg Kaufmann, Andy Green, Guillaume Grange, Jan Edney, Alan Dop, Suheim Skeikh, Maria Muina, Ainhoa Sanchez Vidales, Ricardo Pinto, Michael Mac Sweeney, Sander van der Borch, Max Ranchi, Rick Tomlinson, Patrick Le Galloudec, Andrea Francolini, Onne van der Wal, Josep Sanchez and Martina Orsini.

All the photographs submitted for the Mirabaud Yacht Racing Image 2013 can be viewed at the following address: http://www.mirabaudyachtracingimage.com.

Source: Contest media – December 1, 2013