Prix Pictet - photography awards

Mitch Epstein, BP Carson Refinery, 2007

The winner of the third Prix Pictet photography award is Mitch Epstein and the recipient of the Prix Pictet Commission is Chris Jordan.
The competition is described on their website as follows: 

Launched in 2008 by the Geneva-based private bank Pictet & Cie, the Prix Pictet has rapidly established itself as the world’s leading prize in photography and sustainability. It has a unique mandate – to use the power of photography to communicate vital messages to a global audience. The goal is to uncover art of the highest order, applied to confront the pressing social and environmental challenges of the new millennium.

The theme of this year’s competition was Growth (the theme of the first was Water and the second, Earth.)

The award winners were selected from an impressive shortlist of twelve, namely: Christian Als, Edward Burtynsky, Stéphane Couturier, Mitch Epstein, Chris Jordan, Yeondoo Jung, Vera Lutter, Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, Taryn Simon, Thomas Struth, Guy Tillim and Michael Wolf. 

Selected images from some of the shortlist appear below. (See the Prix Pictet website for more).

Edward Burtynsky, Breezewood, Pennsylvania, 2009

 Chris Jordan, Midway, CF000228, 2009

Vera Lutter, Holzmarktstrasse, Berlin, VIII: September 1, 2003

Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo, The Hell of Copper (L'Enfer du Cuivre), Accra, Ghana , 2008

Taryn Simon, Exploding Warhead, Test Area C-80C, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, 2007

Guy Tillim, Daison Luke and Faness Bisamoro. Petros Village, Malawi, 2006

Michael Wolf, aod [Architecture of Density] 116, Hong Kong, 2009