Photojournalist named winner at LBS Photography Awards

Pascal Maitre wins for his Africa living without electricity photo essay

Mariette Dossou gives birth at the house of midwife Raisa Godjo, with just an oil lamp and a flashlight to help with the delivery in an image from Pascal Maitre's winning photography essay. 

Internationally celebrated photojournalist Pascal Maitre has been named the inaugural winner of the London Business School (LBS) Photography Awards’ Story Prize.

Maitre was presented the award by Raji Jagadeesan, Director of LBS’s Wheeler Institute for Business and Development, and David Bateson, Senior VP Legal, IP & Sustainability at Canon EMEA, at the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the awards at LBS last night.

His winning project, Africa living without electricity, is a photographic series that shows how the ongoing lack of electricity in many parts of Africa impacts society and living standards.

Maitre said: “To win this award is a great honour. It gives me the chance to share my story with an audience who would not normally see my work.”

“Photography has a unique role to play in conveying messages about society and sustainability. The impact, the magic and the emotion captured in a single image can live on in memory and history long after the moment it shows has passed.”

Maitre’s photo essay is one of 11 to make up this year’s LBS Photography Awards exhibition. The awards are a joint-partnership between the School, its Wheeler Institute for Business and Development, and Canon. It is the first photography exhibition to explore how organisations worldwide can impact people’s lives by tackling today’s global challenges.

Among the finalists whose work is also being shown in the exhibition is last year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year grand title winner, Brent Stirton. His photo series Virunga's hydroelectric promise shows how hydroelectric power generation is impacting the conservation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga National Park.

Stirton said the business world had a part to play in solving global problems.

“So many of the current crises we see as photographers have their solutions in the business world. Great economic thinking and planning can alleviate poverty, provide equality and ensure sustainability. Conversely, so many of the negatives we see are a consequence of corporate and political greed,” he said.

“Ethical thinking from the business sector can have a profound effect on security, migration and the cessation of conflict.

“Good visual journalism can influence ethical business thinking for the better, business in turn can be a profound influence of government. It's a conversation we absolutely should be having.”

Stirton’s work for healthcare company Novartis AG, documenting efforts to tackle malaria in Kenya, is also featured in the exhibition.

The LBS Photography Awards exhibition is on display at the School, 66 Park Rd, NW1 6XY. It is open to the public from February 9-14.

Entry is free. Tickets must be pre-booked here.