Sputnik Photojournalist Wins Major Photography Competition

Valery Melnikov, photo correspondent at Sputnik news agency and radio, and winner of many international photojournalism contests, has won in the Urban Life category of the Life Framer international modern photography competition.

MOSCOW, February 9, Sputnik Press-Office — Shot in January 2013, his photo winning entry is of children from the La Piedrita community playing street basketball in Caracas, Venezuela. The winning photos will be displayed in New York, Rome, London, and Tokyo. Life Framer is a competition for open to both professional photographers and amateurs. The goal of the competition is to discover talented photographers and present them to the world.

Valery Melnikov's award-winning photo of children from the La Piedrita community playing street basketball in Caracas, Venezuela

© Sputnik / Valery Melnikov

Valery has also won various prestigious photojournalistic awards in his career. His photos have been selected for many shortlists and have won numerous international and Russian photo competitions. These include the Pictures of the Year International 2016, Sony WAP 2015, Days Japan International Photo Journalism Award 2015, China International Press Photo Contest 2013, 2014, and 2015, the Vilnius Photo Circle 2015, Professional Photographer of the Year 2014, KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO 2015, and the Silver Camera 2013 among others.

Life Framer is an award designed to source and showcase outstanding photography from amateur, emerging and established photographers. Life Framer display the winners of the competition to the world on the website, and at the end of the cycle in a London, Paris and Los Angeles. The overall theme is "Life"; All-encompassing and all-defining.

Sputnik Images is the photo bank of the Sputnik International News Agency and Radio with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites, analogue and digital radio broadcasting, mobile apps, and social media accounts. Sputnik newswires operate 24 hours a day in English, Arabic, Spanish and Chinese.

Sputnik has websites in over 30 languages, including English, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Turkish, and French. Sputnik websites offer a variety of content which ranges from infographics, videos and photo reports to online broadcasts and polls. Besides the latest news, Sputnik also publishes analytics and exclusive interviews.