Maltese photographers were among the winners of the 16th Black and White Spider Awards, the leading international awards honouring excellence in black and white photography, which were held online last week.

These included photographers Ruben Buhagiar, Stephen Buhagiar, Joseph Lungaro and Joe Smith, all members of the Malta Photographic Society. Ruben Buhagiar competed in the professional category while the others competed in the amateur category.

Factory Workers by Joseph Lungaro

Lungaro scooped up two awards: he placed third in the ‘photojournalism’ category with a photo of factory workers producing pots and pans in Dhaka, Bangladesh, titled Factory Workers, and received an honourable mention in the ‘Children of the World’ category with his image Dental Care, featuring children learning about dental hygiene in Gaya, India.

Alight by Ruben Buhagiar

Ruben Buhagiar received an honourable mention in the ‘Children of the World’ category for his photo Coming of Age, the protagonist of which is a boy getting dressed for Holy Communion, and in the ‘Silhouette’ category for Alight, a photo featuring the sun emerging from the clouds as seen through a broken lantern.

Coming of Age by Ruben Buhagiar

Stephen Buhagiar received an honourable mention in the ‘Abstract’ category, with the photo To Infinity, which features an extract from a pile of paper sheets.

To Infinity by Stephen Buhagiar

Smith received the title of nominee in the ‘Portrait’ section for his photo Brian, capturing pianist and conductor Brian Schembri during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Brian by Joe Smith

Other Maltese photographers who participated in the competition were Domenic Aquilina, Dominic Borg, Henri Mattocks, Salvatore Mercieca, Charles Mifsud and Kent Wisner.

The live online gala was attended by industry leaders and the photography community from around the globe. 

A total of 6,211 entries were received from 75 different countries. The international jury, which included captains of industry from Galerie Springer in Berlin, Hackelbury Fine Art in London and Alessia Paladini Gallery in Milan, honoured ‘Spider Fellows’ with 596 coveted title awards and 935 nominees in 33 categories. 

To view all the winners, log on to www.thespiderawards.com.