TEHRAN – “White and Colorful” by Iranian photographer Mohammadreza Masumi has won the 13th edition of the Greenstorm Global Photography Award, the organizers announced last week.

The award is organized in collaboration with the Greenstorm Foundation in Koch, India every year with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

The theme for this year’s contest was “Restore Green Lineage” based on the UNEP theme for 2021 World Environment Day — Ecosystem Restoration.

“White and Colorful” was selected as the winner through a public poll, in which thousands of photography enthusiasts and laypeople from all over the world participated.

“Masumi’s winning entry depicts a breathtaking sight of a man-made forest in Iran spreading through the region of Khalkhal. It exhibits a remarkable human attempt to restore the balance of nature by revitalizing the environment,” Greenstorm Foundation said in a press release.

The photo has previously won the gold medal of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) at the 2nd Issyk-Kul International Exhibition of Photography in Kyrgyzstan.

The Greenstorm Foundation also announced Jophel Botero Ybiosa from the Philippines as the first runner-up, while Hadi Dehqanpur, also from Iran, was chosen as the second runner-up for the award.

Speaking during the award ceremony, former international diplomat and MP from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Shashi Tharoor said that environmental degradation affects everyone regardless of their political or ideological affiliations.

“They have cross-sectoral implications, public health dimensions, impact on the economy and the workforce of today’s India. Solving this crisis may well prove to be the single most important moonshot of our generation,” he noted.

Twenty-five photographs curated by an eminent jury comprising jury chair Prathap Suthan from New Delhi, Mumbai-based wildlife photographer Aishwarya Sridhar and landscape architect Michael Little from Bengaluru were competing for the awards.

The photos were chosen from 3,519 submissions by photographers from 42 countries, including the U.S., England, Canada, Algeria, Brazil, Iran, Malaysia, South Korea, Morocco and Vietnam.

Greenstorm Foundation is a not-for-profit public trust formed to impact appropriate behavioral changes among people through the power of creativity.

Photo: “White and Colorful” by photographer Mohammadreza Masumi won the 13th edition of the Greenstorm Global Photography Award in Kochi, India.

MMS/YAW