Moscow – About 5 000 entries by young photojournalists from 76 countries, including South Africa, have been submitted to the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest.
From the 5 000, seven entries were from South Africa (compared to two last year).
The highest number of photo contest submissions has come from Russia, India, Italy, Iran, China, Belarus, Spain, South Africa, Poland and Bangladesh.
The Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest aims to support young photographers and to draw attention to the challenges that photojournalists face.
Rossiya Segodnya runs this contest under the auspices of the Russian Federation Commission for UNESCO.
The categories that received the most entries this year are My Planet, and Portrait: A Hero of Our Time.
Those who made the shortlist will know on May 23, 2017 at stenincontest.com and the awards ceremony will be held in Moscow.
“This is the third annual contest, and the number of participating countries continues to grow. This is heartening. The Stenin Contest has become an international platform for young photographers from all over the world."
"The photojournalists who took them are young people, but they have sent us many serious photo stories. They are not simply photographing events but are relating stories about life and the people in them,” said Alexander Shtol, Director of Rossiya Segodnya Photo Information Directorate.
The prize fund of the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest 2017 has been increased.
Thus, 2017 prize winners will receive over $15 000 (about R195 000), and the Grand Prix winner will receive around $8 000 (about R103 000).
Independent Media is one of the International media partners of the contest and of the company's chief photographer, Ian Landsberg, is represented on the jury for the 2017 contest.