(AGENPARL) – mer 27 settembre 2023 Overwhelming success for the second edition of the competition that has once again
received the “Medal of the President of the Italian Republic”
TERNA ANNOUNCES THE FIVE WINNERS OF THE “DRIVING
ENERGY AWARD 2023 – CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY”
And the winners are: Dione Roach, Senior Award; Martina Zanin, Youth Award; Beatrice
Aiello, Commendation – Academy; Antonio Vacirca, Amateur Award; and Lorenzo Pipi,
most voted by Terna
The works of the winners and finalists will be exhibited at Palazzo Esposizioni Roma until
15 October 2023, with free admission for visitors
Rome, 27 September 2023 – Terna, the national power grid operator, has announced the
winners of the second edition of the “Driving Energy Award – Contemporary Photography”,
a free competition open to all photographers in Italy, aimed at promoting and developing
culture in Italy as well as new talents in the field.
The top five interpreters of this year’s theme, In Praise of Balance, include a group of
predominantly female photographers: Dione Roach for the Senior Award, Martina Zanin for
the Youth Award, and Beatrice Aiello (from IED – European Institute of Design, Rome) for
the Academy Mention. They are joined by Antonio Vacirca, winner of the Amateur Award,
and by Lorenzo Pipi, whose work received the most votes from Terna employees, over
5,600 in total, making it the “largest jury in Italy”.
The photos of the winners and all finalists are now on display at Palazzo Esposizioni
Roma and can be visited for free until Sunday, October 15th.
“The remarkable results of the 2023 Award confirm the wisdom of Terna’s choice to
promote a cultural project for the benefit of the country. The number of participants and the
quality of the work express a clear message: the willingness to work together for
contemporary Italian photography with commitment, passion and creativity, never
forgetting the courage that is always needed”, said Igor De Biasio, Chairman of Terna.
Terna’s Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Giuseppina Di Foggia, commented:
“Today, more than ever, it’s important for citizens and families to know that Terna is behind
the energy they use every day, driving the energy transition. The Award is a key tool in this
respect: it’s an excellent way to show people what we do. And it does so while respecting
criteria and values that guide our activities, even in the cultural sector”.
“We’re now at the concluding stage of the Award’s second edition: the result achieved, not
our personal opinions, confirm that the project has been a great success. The Driving
Energy Award is undoubtedly an important and recognized event in the field and a
benchmark for the entire community of photographers in Italy”, said Marco Delogu, Curator
of the Award and Chairman of Palaexpo.
The Jury’s motivations award the Senior recognition to Dione Roach “for interpreting the
Award’s theme courageously, blending present-day narration, individual history and
collective experience. Roach’s work reminds us that balance can have as many meanings
as the positions we occupy in society and can take unexpected forms, while still
communicating powerfully and making itself understood by everyone”.
The Youth Award goes to Martina Zanin “for taking the reflection on the Award to multiple
levels using an installation and the choice to rely on the hybridization of codes and
languages. A work that explores the relationship between the two opposing polarities of
animal instinct and human reason, and how they converge in the realm of emotional and
interpersonal relationships”.
Antonio Vacirca receives the Amateur Award “for proposing a work that, in the rigor of
black and white and starting from urban landscape scenarios, analyses balance as visual
and, therefore, meaningful harmony, as a meeting point of lines of force around which
visual perception is constructed, the very act of seeing”.
The Academy Mention was awarded to Beatrice Aiello “for working on an interpretation of
balance that is entirely intimate, centered on the idea of motherhood and the
mother/daughter relationship. Starting from a painful and metaphysical wound, Beatrice
Aiello’s work traces an engaging and accomplished narrative, developed with great skill
from a purely narrative perspective”.
Lorenzo Pipi‘s work, which received the most votes from Terna employees, is awarded ‘for
receiving the highest number of preferences (one fifth of the total) from the Group’s
personnel, who viewed and voted on the TernaCult portal. Lorenzo Pipi’s piece invites us
to prioritize self-centering, the search for inner balance, and a focus on what is essential
and worth pursuing in our lives’.
The five winners of the 2023 Award, who receive a total of € 29,000 in prizes, and the
other 36 finalists were evaluated by the Curator, Marco Delogu, and the Jury, composed of
five high-profile technical and artistic experts, chaired by Lorenza Bravetta, Curator of
Photography, Cinema and New Media at the Milan Triennale. The judges were supported
by the Award’s Executive Committee, composed of Igor De Biasio and Giuseppina Di
Foggia, respectively Chairman and CEO of Terna. This year, the Award’s Governance
also included the Honor Committee composed of the five winners of the 2022 Award
(Paolo Ventura, Gaia Renis, Mohamed Keita, Eva Frapiccini and Andrea Botto), who,
along with the Jury, evaluated the works of the students to award the Academy Mention.
The exhibition of the 2023 Awad, created in partnership with Azienda Speciale Palaexpo,
has entered the digital domain for 2023, giving people more ways to access and enjoy the
photographs. Three digital versions are available: in the metaverse, on the new free PDE
(Premio Driving Energy – Driving Energy Award) app, and via the virtual tour on the
Award’s official website, at https://premiodrivingenergy.terna.it/.
The finalists’ entries have also been published in the “Driving Energy” photography book,
the official catalogue for the Award.