The winners of the annual 2021 iPhone Photography Awards have now been announced – with the top prize going to photojournalist Istvan Kerekes from Hungary. As said by an IPPA Awards spokesperson, “the 14th Annual Awards recognise photographs taken over a remarkable year of grief and loneliness”.

This year, winning images were mostly shot on older iPhones, with Istvan Kerekes’ photographed on an iPhone 7. With this in mind, it is clear that we don’t need the latest iPhone to take a standout image, but an eye to capture expressions, backgrounds, colours and powerful moments.

Digital photo-sharing has been the ultimate communication tool for the nation over the last 16 months, as we have all captured one of the most powerful moments in our history. From our most harrowing moments to our highlights, new data from PastBook now reveals the value of our social media accounts during the lockdown period, and the extent to which we have depended on them to document and preserve our life memories. Key statistics reveal:

Over HALF (52%) of people in the UK don’t own any physical copies of their favourite photos

29% of people in the UK say that their social media accounts are the best representation they have of their life story

One third (30%) of Brits say that the images uploaded on their social media accounts are the only record they have of their favourite memories

Almost HALF (49%) of 18–24-year-olds in the UK feel that their social media accounts have encouraged them to capture and share their memories through images, which they otherwise wouldn’t have taken

Nearly half (47%) of Brits say that looking back at old photos and memories has been the biggest help during lonely or tough times

Wouter Staatsen, CEO of PastBook, discusses the value of our social media accounts in preserving our highlights and most harrowing moments of the last 16 months :

“The winners of the annual 2021 iPhone Photography Awards have now been announced – with Istvan Kerekes as this year’s top prize winner. His winning image is both powerful and emotive, capturing the grief and loneliness of the past 16 months.

What is particularly interesting is that Istvan won using an iPhone 7 – which is one of Apple’s older models. To us at PastBook, this represents that even with the most basic equipment, the power of photography comes from its ability to preserve moments in time.

Over the past 16 months, the nation has captured an array of powerful images, with many of us uploading and sharing our pandemic experience for our families, friends and followers to connect. We now all have the highs and lows of our pandemic experience captured on our devices, from the first national lockdown till even today.”