The awards ceremony and accompanying exhibition will take place in Moscow on August 2016. Contest winners will receive cash prizes and an opportunity to exhibit in Russia and abroad.
"This year, we set a record in terms of the geography of international participants — photographers from all five continents took part in the competition. This international attention the competition has attracted shows that it is sought after by the Russian and international photo community as the main platform in Russia to discover new photojournalists. We thank everyone who submitted an entry to the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest and wish to all our contestants success," Alexander Shtol, director of Rossiya Segodnya's Photo Information Directorate, said.
The prize fund will be 50,000, 35,000 and 25,000 rubles for the first, second and third place in each of the four main categories: Breaking News, Sport, My Country, Portraits: A Hero of Our Time and World Colors. Harmony of Life. A special prize — the 500,000-ruble Grand Prix — will be awarded by a panel jury to an entry chosen by majority vote from among the best entries in all categories.
Background to the Contest
The Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest aims to promote young photographers and attract public attention to photojournalism and its mission. It is Russia's only platform to discover new photojournalists and develop high standards for documentary photography in Russia and the world.
In 2015, about 5,000 entries from 54 countries were submitted for the first contest. Its geographical base spanned four continents, including countries of Europe, North and South America, Africa, the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia. Russian participants were widely represented — from Moscow to St. Petersburg and from Vladivostok to Nakhodka. The awards ceremony took place in Moscow and the winning entries were presented to the public at exhibitions and festival venues inside and outside Russia.
The 2016 contest is supported by major Russian and international media outlets, news agencies and photo societies. Its general information sponsors are: The Rossiya K TV Channel (Russia Culture), KP.ru, the news and information portal jourdom.ru portal and the Russian Photo portal. The contest's international information partners are: the Askanews news agency, EFE news agency, EBC, Notimex news agency, RT TV network and portal, The Royal Photographic Society, Shanghai United Media Group (SUMG), Xinhua news agency, Independent Media, ANTARA Foto press photo agency. The contest's professional information partners are: the Academy of Photography, the agency Geophoto.ru , the photography educational website photo-study.ru, the Moscow Union of Journalists, the Union of Student and Youth Media, the portal Young Journalists and the Uglich Photo Parade festival.