On the occasion of World Water Day, the winning photographs of this award have been released to raise awareness about the vital importance of water

Hidralia, an Andalusian environmental company dedicated to the integral management of water, and its AQUAE Foundation once again celebrate World Water Day by announcing the winning image and the two finalists of the VIII edition of the PhotoAquae Awards, the photography contest instituted in 2015 to create social awareness about the vital importance of water.

This year, with a nod to the drought and the precarious situation of many aquifers, the photograph 'Calming thirst', by Antonio Romero Nieto, a pensioner from Cadiz and an amateur photographer, has been the winner. As the author explains, "the image is taken in the Jerez countryside, a harvest day with a temperature of 38 degrees", and reflects that moment of indescribable pleasure that is to feel the fresh water in the throat after an intense day of work in the Andalusian countryside, in full sun. "Without water there is no life", says the winner of PhotoAquae 2022, who feels very satisfied by this "unexpected award".

The arguments of the jury, unanimous as to the weight of reality of the winning photograph, highlight, in the words of the renowned photographers Alfredo Cáliz and Sofía Moro, "the solidity of the water thread, which builds a whole story, with the element of abstraction provided by black and white, which emphasizes the moment, but without artifice. The author is looking at what happens and photographing it.".

Secondly, there has been 'Mar de Ross III', by Luis Davilla, "a photo of nature with capital letters, with a lot of sea and a lot of water, in which the beauty and grandeur of the ecosystem is evident, and its vulnerability, from a bird's eye view", says the biologist and member of the jury, Mónica Fernández Aceytuno.

'Night shower', third classified, is, according to the jury, the opposite of the winning image; naturalness gives way to artifice, to creation. "The scene has not been seen and the photo has been taken, it has been mounted. It follows the tradition of photographs of classic mountaineers, but aromatized and technically very well resolved, with a very long exposure that gives movement to the stars".