Young Egyptian Wins International Travel Documentary Scholarship
PARKER – With over 178 quality entries submitted this year, Mohamed Soliman of Cairo emerged victorious as the winner of the 2010 WorldNomads.com Travel Documentary Scholarship. Documentaries were submitted from places like Africa, India, Alaska, South America, South East Asia and Papua New Guinea, but Soliman’s piece on Northern Uganda touched the judges more than the others. Mohamed’s video documented the strife in Northern Uganda through the eyes of a teenager — poignantly showing the loss he suffered and the way in which this extraordinary young man is learning to embrace life again.
Judge Trent O’Donnell commented, “One of the hardest aspects of making a documentary is to get your subjects to open up to you and drop the facade that people often put on in front of camera. Mohamed did this wonderfully. His subject, David, seems honest and sincere as he recalls his tragic story. The visuals gave a great sense of place and enhanced the tone of the piece without being overly complicated and detracting from the rawness of the story being conveyed. A great doco that conveys an amazing amount of story and emotion in such a short space of time.”
As the winner, Mohamed will work alongside Trent in the Amazon as he films a documentary on sustainable tourism, taking part in a special project with Gap Adventures, exploring the Amazonian jungle and homestaying with the indigenous Quichua community. They will be joining Bruce Poon Tip (Gap’s founder) as he revisits Ecuador’s spectacular Andean Interior and Amazon lowlands. It’s been 20 years since the first Gap Adventures trip was run in the Amazon and alongside Bruce they will gain unique access and insight into the lives of the Quichua community understanding how sustainable tourism has positively impacted their community.
Mohamed will also see first hand how the Footprints Network can make a difference to communities in need as Simon Monk (founder of WorldNomads.com and the Footprints Network) visits a project providing schooling equipment to the local Quichua primary school.
WorldNomads.com provides global travel safety products and services to travelers from over 150 countries around the world. From great value travel insurance, travel safety advice, language guides and free online travel journals, WorldNomads.com provides the tools to keep you traveling safely. All clients can donate to a community development project when purchasing travel insurance through the Footprints Charity program. WorldNomads.com is backed by a suite of strong, secure, specialist travel insurance companies.
