British photographer Fraser Perrie has been named ‘Urban Photographer of the Year’, triumphing over 8000 entries from across the globe

Established by the global real estate services firm, CBRE, in 2007 the Urban Photographer of the Year celebrates images of daily life in urban environments and is now the largest competition of its kind.

The theme for the annual competition, which for the first time was open to photographers from across the globe, is ‘Cities at Work’ and is designed to challenge amateur and professional photographers to capture what they consider to be the essence of urban life at any time of day. The expansion of the contest saw submissions flooding in from 115 countries including South Korea, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan, New Zealand and Bangladesh, with India delivering the most entries. Pierre’s winning image, which depicts a busy cobblers beneath New York’s iconic Rockefeller Centre, was chosen for its vibrant view of city life.

Michael Strong, Chairman & CEO of CBRE – Europe, Middle East and Africa, commented:

“The images we received during this year’s competition were outstanding, offering glimpses into the lives of city dwellers around the world. The portrayal of cities in the submissions depicts the diversity of urban life and individual personalities and nuances are very evident throughout each image we reviewed.”

“Fraser Perrie’s winning image was chosen after much deliberation as it wonderfully captures a compelling symmetry between the lives of the strangers in the photo.”

Martin C. Grahame Dunn, Chairman of the judging panel, added:

“My concern for this year’s, now global, competition was ‘can we top the images submitted in 2011?’ However, it slid smoothly into a place it has always belonged – as a worldwide annual event - and the image standard maintained an amazing level of creativity and observation.

“Photographers – whether amateur or professional - play an important part in chronicling and preserving our history and the bedrocks of our urban existence. The success of the Urban Photographer of the Year underlines how important celebrating this role is.”

Fraser Perrie has won an exclusive photo safari. Graeme Edwards and Tim Martin, hailing from Australia and the USA respectively were placed second and third for their images of Melbourne and Hong Kong, and 24 hourly winners were also awarded prizes for their entries.

For a full list of prize winners please visit www.cbrephotographer.com