The Prince Claus Awards: Honouring excellence in arts and culture

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Our invitation to celebrate the Market Photo Workshop being honoured at the Prince Claus Awards at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg was met with great excitement highlighting the significance of these awards.

Named in honour of Prince Claus from the Netherlands, the annual ceremony showcases outstanding achievements in the field of arts, culture and development across the world by judging applications submitted by thousands of artists. The judging panel consists of five committee members who process all the submissions and draft the finalist list. The awards are given out to groups, individuals and organisations who have made an impact in their community within their respective fields.

In attendance was Dutch Ambassador to South Africa Han Peters who presented the award to the recipients.
Dutch Ambassador to South Africa, Hans Peters. Photo: Sandisiwe Mbhele

This year, the Market Workshop was awarded the Prince Claus Laureate Award. Dating back to 1989, this institution trained young black students who wanted to harness their photography skills in a climate and political background that tried to stifle this. The students exposed discrimination, injustices and oppression by the apartheid government.

30 years later, the workshop has nearly 200 students a year and it continues to recruit and transform the lives of disadvantaged youths across the country. The Head of Market Photoshop, Lekgetho Makola, said that they were honoured to receive this award. He then added that photographs, "Have the strength to impact human perceptions at a very large scale due to accessibility and far reach distributions."


Head of the Market Workshop Lekgetho Makola accepts the Prince Claus Laureate award from one of the members of the Prince Claus committee, Fariba Derakhshani. Photo: Sandisiwe Mbhele

The award for the Next Generation Laureate was handed to Dada Masilo who treated us to an amazing dance performance. 

 Described as a dancer and choreographer, she boldly intertwines her African roots with Western cultures to create experiences of our global realities. Her choreography tackles sexuality, domestic violence, and discrimination. She currently has a youth training program aimed at training professional dancers and giving them opportunities within the industry. 





Celebrating and honouring the excellence of cultural heritage, the Prince Claus Awards continues to seek out new talents that use limited resources to create outstanding work of arts; showcasing why award shows are still relevant in many industries.   

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