Husam El Aswad wins the 2025 SHTA Event Calendar Photo Contest!
Out of all the submitted pictures for the 2025 Event Calendar Photo Contest, a winning picture was selected today by the St Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA). The association congratulates Husam El Aswad with his beautiful photograph capturing a cruise ship through a window of old Fort Amsterdam. In the words of one committee member, the photo was “an artful mix of the old and the new”.
The SHTA would like to thank all candidates who participated in the contest and shared their artwork. A total of 34 pictures was submitted for the 2024 contest. In general, the quality of this year’s pictures was considered very high, with beautiful St. Maarten sunsets as a recurring topic. To qualify, the photo needed to portray the island’s attractiveness through landscapes, culture symbols or art. With his winning picture, Mr. El Aswad wins a weekend in Azure Hotel in Simpson Bay.
Mr. El Aswads picture will be on display on the SHTA 2025 Events Calendar. As of its first edition, the SHTA Events Calendar aims to be a platform for local artistry, both by photography, design and celebrating a local cultural icon on the calendar.
In July, SHTA selected fashion designer Zillah Duzon-Hazel as the Cultural Icon to be highlighted on the association’s 2025 Events Calendar. She will continue a tradition featuring St. Maarten creatives like Clara Reyes, Isidore York, King Beaubeau and Ruby Bute. By adding fashion celebrity Duzon-Hazel to its tradition of highlighting cultural icons, SHTA underlines St. Maarten’s creative talent reaches beyond established art branches like painting, music, dance, photography and writing alone.
The calendar and Mr. El Aswads picture will also be featured in the 2025 edition of VISIT Magazine, the official in-room magazine of SHTA in hotels on the Dutch side and French side.
SHTA looks forward to jointly working on the calendar with CLT, their famous brands Hennessy, Stoli vodka and DiSaronno, as well as Grant Thornton, Telem, Amasterdam, the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau and l’Office du Tourisme.
The association calls on companies, NGOs and Government entities planning events to submit their dates for the 2025 events calendar to events@shta.com before the end of this week. As always, island residents can reserve free copies via the same e-mail address.
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