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The Western Development Commission (WDC) and Let’s Do It Galway have announced the winners of the LookWest.ie & Pix.ie Volvo Ocean Race Festival Photo Competition.
They have also announced that an exhibition of the best 100 photos will take place from Friday 21st August to Sunday 23rd August at Merchant’s Hall, 1 Merchant’s Road, Galway. Admission is free and the exhibition is open to the public from 10.00am to 6.00pm each day.
The overall winner is Ger Conran for his photograph of the entire Volvo Ocean Race fleet sailing on Galway Bay during the in-port racing over the weekend of May 30th and 31st. Second place went to Adi Tig, and third place to Ekaterina Petrova for their photographs which captured the fun and entertainment that took place during the festival.
The prizes, digital cameras, were presented by Mr Éamon Ó Cuív, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs at a prize-giving ceremony in Galway.
Minister Ó Cuív said, “The Western Development Commission is keen to promote the creative sector in this part of the country, not just because of the inherent importance of the arts in our nation’s psyche and identity, but because it also has the potential to contribute to the sustainable long-term development of this predominantly rural region. Simply put, it makes economic sense to support creativity”.
Lisa McAllister WDC Chief Executive said, “The WDC was delighted to support the Galway Stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race by sponsoring the photo competition as this was a natural fit with our work to position the Western Region as Ireland’s hub for the creative industries. The photo competition and the Creative West Galway Art Trail, which took place in over 20 galleries around Galway during the festival, demonstrate the natural creativity of the Western Region.
Ms. McAllister added, “When international comparisons are factored in the Western Region has the potential to create at least an extra 2,000 jobs in the creative sector. The creative sector refers to those businesses which rely most on human creativity to generate economic value, ranging from TV production, music and theatre to architecture, graphic design and digital media. They are a significant economic contributor to the Western Region and the WDC believes that the sector can be grown considerably, even in these difficult economic times.”
Ms. McAllister said that the Western Region is perfectly positioned for further expansion within the creative sector as the region, by virtue of its natural beauty and quality of life, has long inspired a culture of creativity. She added that the region can continue to attract creative people from all over the world who, from their home in the West, can feed the increasing world appetite for design, music, film, digital media and the arts, and make an important contribution to the region’s economy in the process.
Chairman of Let’s Do It Galway, John Killeen said, “We were delighted that the WDC came on board for the Photo Competition and the Creative West - Galway Art Trail and I’d like to thank them for generating such huge interest in the competition. The stopover was a fantastic success, and partnerships, like the one with the WDC, were an important contributor to the successful staging of Ireland’s largest sporting event. The photographs are a fantastic legacy of the Volvo Ocean Race Festival which saw 650,000 people visit the race village and Salthill during the two weeks.”
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