Mirka Nilkens Wins 2022 Silver Camera Award

Dressage

Germany

German Mirka Nilkens became the recipient of the 2022 Silver Camera Award, an annual competition for the best equestrian sport photo of the year, hosted by CHIO Aachen.

Silver Camera Award

Equestrian sport has many facets, it tells exciting stories and it can be incredibly emotional. The “Silver Camera”, which pays tribute to the best equestrian photo of the year, proved this once again on Saturday evening 2 July 2022.

What are the characteristics of a good photo? The motif? The quality? The mood? A first-class jury have to answer this question every year, because the organisers of the CHIO Aachen, the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein e.V. (ALRV) traditionally confers the “Silver Camera” for the best international equestrian sport photo of the year.

For 2022, 86 photographs were submitted, but only one could win. This year the former national trainer of the Dutch show-jumpers, Rob Ehrens; last year’s winner, Diana Wahl; Andreas Müller (CEO Media House Aachen) and member of the ALRV Board, Birgit Rosenberg selected the winner and the runners-up. “The quality of the photos is outstanding. It wasn’t easy to make a decision,” stated Birgit Rosenberg.

Mirka Nilkens Wins 2022 Silver Camera Award

The three photographers nominated for the 2022 Silver Camera award were all German.

Ultimately, Mirka Nilkens’ entry convinced the first-class jury. Her photo that captured an exceptional moment during a prize-giving ceremony at the Aachen Dressage Youngstars in 2021, particularly stood out among the submitted photographs due to its perfect interplay between emotions and technique. Second place went to the photographer from Aachen, Andreas Steindl, who was able to capture an intimate moment at the end of an eventing competition. Spanish Andrea Rodriguez came third with a unique occurrence between a dressage horse and pigeons.

The “Silver Camera” is awarded by the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein and was initiated by the artist, Wolfgang Lamché. The prize was presented on Saturday evening by the ALRV Supervisory Board member, Peter Weinberg. The winner received prize money to the value of 2,500 euro, second place picked up 1,000 euro and third place 500 euro.