Born on August 2nd, 1957 in Senglea, Malta, Domenic has been involved in the photojournalism sphere since his early twenties.
Official Malta football writer / photojournalist correspondent to www.uefa.com – the official site of the Union of European Football Associations, and a regular photographic contributor to UEFA various publications.
Aquilina’s association with UEFA spans a long number of years. Specialising in photo reportage, the Maltese photographer has covered twelve UEFA Champions League finals, plus numerous UEFA Champions League matches and other UEFA official matches. His photojournalistic contributions to www.uefa.com and various publications from UEFA are ongoing.
Accredited member of the Association Internationalle de la Presse Sportive (A.I.P.S), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Institute of Maltese Journalists, The Malta Sportswriters Association and The Malta Institute of Professional Photographers.
Appointed one of the official photographers for the Malta Football Association in September 2010. Later appointed official photographer of the Malta national senior football team.
Awarded with the SWPP “Sport General Photographer of The Year 2011” award at the SWPP Convention 2012 in London, England.
Invite “speaker” by the Societies UK for the annual Societies Photographic Convention in London – the biggest international photo convention in Europe – as a “Sports Photography” speaker.
June 2012 saw Avantech Malta – local distributors for Canon products in Malta, officially announce the Maltese photographer as the first ever Canon Ambassador for Malta in recognition of his international achievements and loyalty to the brand.
Since July 2016, Domenic has occupied the role of Chief Photographer/Content Editor consultant within the sports section of the Malta Independent – one of Malta’s leading dailies.
In September 2016, Aquilina was appointed as official Malta stringer to one of Europe’s biggest agencies – epa – European Pressphoto Agency. Based in Frankfurt, Germany, the esteemed news agency photo service, generates a daily average of 2,000 images within a network of 400 professional photographers worldwide.
Domenic is also an official partner to Imago all images GmbH – a leading stock photo agency in Berlin, Germany and a photographic/journalistic contributor to various leading publications abroad, namely Guerin Sportivo (Italy) and World Soccer (England).In April 2015 Domenic was awarded 2nd Place/Silver Medal and a “Merit of Excellence” Award in the “Sports” category in the “8th Annual International Color Awards” in California, USA.
Honourable Mention Award in the Sport Category in the 2015 edition and finalist in the 2016 edition of the Siena International Photo Awards (SIPAContest).
Domenic’s capture of Lionel Messi’s scorpion kick during a UEFA Champions League match in 2019 was awarded with the “Remarkable Artwork” award in the Siena International Photo Awards 2020 in the “Sports Category” category.
Another prestigious award for the Maltese photographer arrived in June 2016. His UEFA Champions League capture titled “Heads I Win!” was awarded with 1st Place in the “Editorial Sports” professional category in the Moscow International Foto Awards 2016.
1st Place and Outstanding Achievement Award at the 11th edition of the International Color Awards in California, USA with his basketball capture “Basket!”.
Awarded “Sports Photographer of the Year” in the annual Malta Journalistic Awards by the Institute of Maltese Journalists in 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In January 2020, Domenic placed a prestigious overall 8th Place in the A.I.P.S Sport Media Awards 2019 in the “Sport Action” photo category, amongst the best in global sports media.
Due to the first three placings coming from non-European countries, Domenic’s overall European placing in this prestigious competition bounced to 5th. A really prestigious placing.
His winning image captured FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in one of his typical overhead kicks during a UEFA Champions League group stage match at the Camp Nou against Manchester United in April 2019.
