Photography

Grand Marina Photography Award

The sixth Grand Marina Photography Award, dedicated to “Barcelona naturallu: cityscapes”, has collected 385 photographs to contest. This annual event has established itself as one the leading prizes in the field of photography.

The idea of creating the prize stemmed from the desire to make photography one of the main elements in the decoration of the rooms at the Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel. The idea was to organise a competition inspired in the work of a fine artist and distinguished Barcelona citizen: the photographer Xavier Miserachs, author of “Barcelona en Blanc i Negre” (Barcelona in Black and White), one of the best photgraphy catalogues of the city ever published.

With this fact in mind, the subject-matter of the I Xavier Miserachs Photography Award could be no other than the city of Barcelona, and one of the requirements for the entries was that they were triptychs of photographs in black and white. In commemoration of the Award, a deluxe edition was published, designed by Toni Miserachs, where the 60 photographs acquired were reproduced. The book, titled: “Barcelona, 2000 anys i un dia” (Barcelona, 2000 years and one day), has a prologue by the late eminent Barcelona writer, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.

After this first successful competition, the hotel chain decided to establish an annual photography event with new calls for works of photography dedicated to “Gaudi’s Barcelona” in 2002, to “Barcelona, City of Design”, in 2003, to “Barcelona and the Forum” in 2004, and most recently, to “Barcelona and Art” in 2005.

Eurostars Hotels plans to promote similar photography awards to that organized at its emblematic hotel, in other cities where it is present.