Goya Award nomination for Ribera photographer

A GOYA Award nomination has been confirmed for a Ribera Alta photographer who already has one of these prestigious statuettes in pride of place in his home.

Álvaro Ruiz Nogués, from L'Alcúdia, won a Goya in 2015 in the 'freestyle' category for his photo which appears to depict a scene from a futuristic film in which a human grapples with a machine.

His 2019 nomination is in the 'portrait' category, and Álvaro says he is 'extremely grateful' to his model Ximo Barbarroja, without whom his chance of a second Goya 'would not have been possible'.

The chosen photo is a 'psychological portrait of a superhero', Álvaro explains.

Even if he does not net a second Goya Award, the young artist has already scooped up handfuls of national and international prizes, including the Quijote Award, and has represented Spain twice in the Photography World Cup as well as being granted the title of Master Photographer by the national federation of professional camera artists, FEPFI.

The film version of the Goya Awards is Spain's answer to the Oscars – but a largely-unknown fact is that they were originally designed as photographic prizes when they were first celebrated in 1983.

Once they evolved into the national cinema awards, the photography section broke away and became a separate prizegiving, held bi-annually in Zaragoza and now organised by the Professional Photographers' and Videographers' Association of Aragón.

Due to take place on February 2, the awards cover four categories – 'Freestyle', 'Portrait', 'Wedding' and 'Graphic Documentary'.