Canon announces its Fan Foto competition winner

27 June 2008 13:17 GMT / By Verity Burns

Canon have announced the grand prize winner of the Canon Fan Foto online competition.

Amatuer photographer Jan Kostal of the Czech Republic was named as the winner for his image entitled "Muddy Playground Bangledesh". A panel of experts from Canon and Getty Images picked the photo for the top prize from over 6,000 submitted since February.

The competition was hosted on the official website of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament, as part of Canon's sponsorship of the event.

The site was designed to capture the emotions of football from the perspective of the football fan. Any football-related photo could be uploaded, and visitors to the site could rate their favourites using a simple thumbs up or thumbs down system.

For his efforts, Jan received a pitch-side sports photography experience at the Austria v Germany Group A match in Vienna. He also received a Canon EOS 450D digital SLR camera to photograph the action.

Steve Rose, Director of Photography, Sport, Getty Images said: "Jan Kostal's winning image shows an excellent use of light and composition and is one which stood out from the crowd and, more importantly, highlights football is truly a global sport that can be played and enjoyed anywhere."

Jan Kostal was one of 11 finalists selected by the expert panel, all of whom received a VIP trip to a Euro 2008 game and a Canon EOS 450D digital SLR camera.

The best bit of all is that everytime a visitor uploads a new picture to the Fan Foto gallery, Canon is making a donation of one Euro to the Red Cross, and a donation of 50 cents every time a visitor votes for an image. This means the current donation stands at around 40,000 euros.

Good work all round, we think.