Photojournalism 1st place winner

The Wisdom Preparatory Academy is located in Adedenkpo, in the old city of Accra, Ghana.
It is an old mansion that once was important, and which has since been transformed into a school with classrooms for young people, with more than 300 students. Some of them were partially damaged by time and by the playing children living in the neighborhood. Confronting the old building is a large courtyard with informal houses where families grow their young children. And in this courtyard is installed a training academy of boxers, who dedicated their dreams of one day being great champions.
This project is a tribute to all children who continue to believe.

João Miguel Barros was born in 1958, in Lisbon, Portugal.
He is a Lawyer by profession, in Lisbon and Macau.
He was co-director of the SEMA culture and visual arts magazine published in Lisbon between 1979 and1982.
In 2017 began to exhibit his photography work, with individual exhibitions at “Creative Macau - Center for Creative Industries”, Macau (February 2017) and at “Museu Berardo”, Belem Cultural Center, Lisbon, Portugal (from February to August 2018). He has participated in several group exhibitions.
He published two photobooks: “Between Gaze and Hallucination” (self-published) in 2017 and “Photo-Scripts – 14 short stories” (published by Museu Berardo) in 2018.
Recent awards:
- Selected artist of YICCA - International Contest of Contemporary Art, Milan, 2017/18, with a photo for the project “Tribute”.
- 3º Award in the category “Press” of the Prix de la Photographie (PX3), Paris, with the project “Blood, Sweat and Tears”
- 1º Award in the category “Editorial / Sports (Non-Prof.) of the International Photography Awards, 2018, New York, with the project “Blood, Sweat and Tears”.
- Honorable Mention in the category “People: Other” of the ND Awards 2018, with the project “Tribute”.
- Honorable Mention in the category “Nature: Trees” of the ND