November 9th, 2019 at 07:58 am
Michael Aboya, who is a young Ghanaian photographer, has won the World’s ‘Best Photo of the Year’ at the 2019 Agora Awards.
The 24-year-old Aboya was announced the winner on Wednesday, November 6, 2019, at a ceremony held at the Fàbrica Estrella Damm in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
The Awards saw the submission of 130,000 images from photographers all over the world. these submissions were narrowed down to just 15 images with Michael being a part of.
Michael emerged the winner with $25,000 as cash price. His submission for the competition was titled “Songs of Freedom” and was shot in La (Labadi), a suburb of Accra.
Inspired by Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, the photo captures boys in a rural setting with one of them playing the violin passionately while his friends surround him with their eyes shut and arms raised towards the sky.
Speaking after his win, Aboya disclosed that he became a full-time photographer just about two years ago.
At 19, he founded budget hotel chain, OYO, which first started as Oravel Travel in the city of Gurgaon, just outside India’s capital.