The Jury

GMB Akash is an award-winning Bangladeshi photographer who concentrates on people living on the edge of society around the world. He captures their daily lives and stories in photographs and words that push him to places and people he would have never encountered otherwise. He has also focused on the impact of the environment on unprivileged people that others rarely see.

His work has been featured in over 100 major publications including Vogue, Time, Sunday Times, Newsweek, Geo, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Fader, Brand Ein, The Guardian, Marie Claire, Colors, The Economist, The New Internationalist, Kontinente, Amnesty Journal, Courier International, etc. The photographs of GMB Akash have been exhibited all over the world with solo exhibitions in Bangladesh, Laos, Germany, Belgium, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, USA New York, Charleston, S.C., Qatar, Maldives, as well as in the Czech Republic and Greece.

He has received more than 100 international photography awards and recognition starting in 2002 when he became the first Bangladeshi selected for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in the Netherlands. He was the first Bangladeshi to receive the Young Reporters Award 2004 at the Scope Photo Festival in Paris. In 2005 he was awarded ‘Best of Show’ at the Center for Fine Art Photography’s international competition in Colorado, USA. He won the 2006 World Press Photo award and released his first book ‘FIRST LIGHT’ that same year. Again, he became the first Bangladeshi to be selected for the 30 Emerging Photographers (PDN 30), sponsored by Photo District News Magazine, USA. In Switzerland he won the 7th Vevey International Photography 2009 Grant. He took home the international ‘Travel photographer of the Year’ 2009 (TPOY 2009) in the UK, the most prestigious award in travel photography. Nikon selected GMB Akash in 2011 as one of the 8 ‘influencers’ in Asia Pacific.

He founded the GMB Akash Institute of Photography in 2013 in Bangladesh teaching students from all over the world. The proceeds from his photography workshops go towards the provision of basic education for street children, underprivileged talented students and child labourers.

Various international photography contests have selected GMB Akash to be on the jury including Friends of the Earth International Photo Competition (The Netherlands), Fine art photography awards 2017(UK), The Worldwide Photography Gala award (UK), the UNESCO Silk Road Photography Contest 2020 and 2021 (France),Visions international photo awards 2021 ( France) and many more.

Elisa started working for the Global Campus in 2016. Her first endeavour was setting up the Press and Fundraising Office. Her main responsibilities are coordinating and implementing PR, communication and fundraising efforts; increasing the visibility of the organisation; and liaising with donors, partners, influencers and supporters. She worked previously for the corporate sector as Business Development Manager in charge of growing the portfolio of clients. She began her career as a young diplomat and worked for twelve years in New York, London and Brussels. She also supported the project management efforts of the “Fondazione La Biennale di Venezia”, VHC, Autoworld, Magritte Museums and coordinated some activities which links the Arts and Human Rights like the HRPavilion, Cosmocafes and GC Conversations and #Art4HumanRights campaigns. She is a lawyer and holds an LLM in International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She also studied at the OAS, UN, Getulio Vargas Foundation, London St. Martin’s School of Arts, London Film Academy. Emory University and Stanford University.

Adam graduated in 2007 from the EMA. He has since worked for the UN Refugee Agency in Afghanistan, Sudan, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Switzerland, for the Danish Refugee Council in Denmark the EU in Georgia, UNICEF in Denmark and currently for WaterAid. He roamed the globe as an independent traveler for a few years, where he worked with development journalism, in particular in writing, photography and documentary film. The two latter earned him awards.He is also the president of the EMAlumni Association.

Mikaela is a Communications Officer based in Right Livelihood’s Stockholm office. Her responsibilities cover a variety of tasks such as daily media monitoring and administration of the website. She is also in charge of the digital photo archive and works closely with the Digital Communications Manager to support the team with content and graphic production.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies and has previous international experience in global development in Argentina, Australia and Indonesia.