This year’s annual Huawei XMAGE Awards was held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France and we were there to witness the awarding ceremony of the global photography contest.
The Event
This year, five Filipino photographers earned international recognition at the XMAGE Awards, representing the Philippines in this global mobile photography event.
We met and talked to two of the 5 Filipino winners — the first one was Rhon Velarde with his entry “Glimmer of Hope” that was shot on a Huawei P40 Pro.
Mark Linel Padecio’s entry, called “Muddy But Happy”, was shot using a Huawei Pura 70 Pro.
Three other Filipino mobile photographers were given respective awards: Philip Am Guay for his entry “Celestial Kois” shot with a Huawei P40 Pro+; Bien Bacarra Jr. for “Untamed”, using a Huawei Mate 20 Pro; and Domcar Lagto with his photograph called “Chasing the Dawn, Pursuing Dream” take with a PURA70 Ultra.
The XMAGE 100
Each of the winners received a plaque and cash prize of $1,500. A total of 100 XMAGE awardees were presented with the top 3 receiving a grand prize of $10,000. There were over 740,000 photo entries submitted this year.
XMAGE Grand Winners
Huawei has been holding this annual XMAGE awards since 2017. The competition includes various categoriessuch as “Faces,” “Good Night,” “Colour & Shade,” “A Heartwarming World,” “Experimental Lab,” “Storyboard,” and “Action” that showcases the artistry and technical skill of the photographers using any Huawei smartphone.
Winning Revelations
We had a couple of sit-down discussion with the two winners and talked about their experience with the XMAGE Awards. For example, Rhon Velarde, has been joing the XMAGE Awards for many years and have won several times already.
However, this was the first time he had the chance to attend the awarding ceremony in Paris, France.
Having joined this mobile photography contest for many years, we’re all really competitive when it comes to this. I, for one, have won a few times and I can tell you that you have to really study and know the judges, study their tastes and look at the kinds of photos that won in previous years.
Having joined Hauwei XMAGE has taught me that Huawei judges look for prestige, camera superiority and a photo that evokes a message of passion for the craft. – Rhon.
Mark Padecio, on the other hand, has a different take and prides himself as an “Ani ng Dangal” awardee by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).
Through the years, I have won many photogrpahy contents worldwide — from Europe to South Africa. One thing that I have learned is that your photos need to have a good story. An image the evokes the message on its own, one that does not need to be told to understand.
That’s the key. – Mark Padecio
What both photographers agree on is that the XMAGE Awards does not really require you to own or use the latest Huawei smartphones. Even the old ones can qualify as long as you have a sotry to tell with the photos you took.
This is the reason many Huawei smartphone users look at Huawei as among the best in smartphone photography that has earned it the label as king of mobile photography for many years now (as these photo entries clearly show). In fact, the latest Huawei PURA80 Ultra scored higher than the iPhone 17 Pro Max by 8 points in DXOMark.
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