Sierra de las Nieves Presents the Awards for Its 15th Photography Contest
The jury highlighted “the unique nature of each of them and their ability to capture a fleeting moment for posterity, “It is a challenge to capture the natural and ethnographic richness of our region in a photograph. May these images serve as an example of the life that flourishes here and the coexistence between humans and nature.”
Yesterday afternoon, the Sierra de las Nieves National Park, Natural Park, and Biosphere Reserve presented the awards for the fifteenth edition of its now-traditional photography contest. The headquarters of the Sierra de las Nieves Association of Municipalities served as the venue where the winners received their awards, which aim to highlight both the natural beauty and the cultural heritage of this exceptional region.
Divided into the categories of Biodiversity and Geodiversity and Human Activities, the jury highlighted “the unique nature of all these photographs, which capture a fleeting moment for posterity; it is a challenge to convey the natural and ethnographic richness of our region in a single photograph.” May these images serve as an example of the life that emerges and the coexistence between humans and nature—with details such as the starry sky, the colors of the seasons, the colors of life, the vestiges of the past, the curious gaze, the richness of the flora and fauna, and the vastness of our snow-capped horizon, which hold great artistic and symbolic value.”
José Antonio Víquez, the Andalusian Regional Government’s delegate for Sustainability and the Environment in Málaga; Rafael Haro, director of the Sierra de las Nieves National Park; José Miguel Marín, president of the Sierra de las Nieves Association of Municipalities and mayor of Istán; and the coordinator of the Sierra de las Nieves Biosphere Reserve, Tomás Rueda, were in charge of presenting the awards.
A total of 12 prizes—two per category—and 12 honorable mentions were awarded. The First Prize for Biodiversity and Geodiversity went to Alfonso Roldán Losada for his photograph of a green woodpecker (Picus viridis), and the First Prize for Human Activities went to Daniela Montesinos García, for a snapshot of the Turón River dam in the municipality of El Burgo
The purpose of the contest—which received a total of 167 entries this year—is to raise awareness of the protective status of the Sierra de las Nieves National and Natural Park, a natural area that is part of the European Union’s Natura 2000 Network, and the Sierra de las Nieves Biosphere Reserve, a site under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MaB) Program, as well as the values this territory embodies—recognizing that a deeper understanding of it fosters love and respect for its natural environment and its inhabitants— the Sierra de las Nieves Natural Area, in collaboration with the Sierra de las Nieves Association of Municipalities, has organized this fifteenth edition of the Photography Contest linked to this protected area and the Biosphere Reserve of the same name.
Complete list of all winners and runners-up
First Prize in Biodiversity and Geodiversity: Alfonso Roldán Losada
First Prize in Human Activities: Daniela Montesinos García
Second Prize in Biodiversity and Geodiversity: Antonio Márquez Lanza
Second Prize in Human Activities: José Antonio Díaz Macías
Third Prize in the Bio and Geodiversity Category: Pedro Jesús Luque González
Third Prize in the Human Activities Category: Francisco Román Calle
Fourth Prize in Bio- and Geodiversity: Daniel Blanco
Fourth Prize in Human Activities: Miguel López Portillo
Fifth Bio and Geodiversity Award: Rubén Zayas Espinosa
Fifth Prize in the Human Activities Category: Paqui Trujillo Florido
Sixth Bio and Geodiversity Award: José Luis García Meléndez
Sixth Human Activities Award: Ionela Sorina Muresan
Runner-up Prize for Biology and Geodiversity: Alfonso Roldán Losada, Andrés Jesús Peña Toro, Francisco Gil de Montes Pérez, Alfonso Roldán Losada, Andrés Jesús Peña Toro, Abel Moreno Guerra
Runner-up in the Human Activities Category: Ricardo Pastor Plasencia, Juan Francisco Vázquez Fernández, Manuel Romero Escamilla, Ricardo Pastor Plasencia, Antonio Sepúlveda Merino, José Antonio Góngora García
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