The winning picture.
PHILIPSBURG--Husam El Aswad’s photograph capturing a cruise ship through a window of old Fort Amsterdam has won the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association’s (SHTA) 2025 Event Calendar Photo Contest.
SHTA said the photo was “an artful mix of the old and the new.” SHTA thanked all candidates who participated in the contest and shared their artwork. A total of 34 pictures were 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, El Aswad won a weekend in Azure Hotel in Simpson Bay.
El Aswad’s 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 Beau Beau and Ruby Bute. By adding fashion celebrity Duzon-Hazel to its tradition of highlighting cultural icons, SHTA underlines St. Maarten’s creative talent that reaches beyond established art branches like painting, music, dance, photography and writing alone.
The calendar and El Aswad’s 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 said it looks forward to jointly working on the calendar with Caribbean Liquors & Tobacco (CLT), its famous brands Hennessy, Stoli vodka and DiSaronno, as well as Grant Thornton, Telem, Amsterdam, the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau and l’Office du Tourisme.
The association calls on companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and government entities planning events to submit their dates for the 2025 events calendar to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the end of this week. As always, island residents can reserve free copies via the same e-mail address.
