Cape Town - The opening night of the two-month-long 2018 Andrei Stenin International Photo Contest exhibition is set to take place at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Thursday night.
The annual contest is for photojournalists aged between 18 and 33 years old and is Russia’s best platform for discovering and promoting new photojournalists and this year around 6 000 entries from 77 countries were submitted.
The State Historical Museum in Russia was the first exhibition venue and the starting point for what is an international exhibition tour. The Cape Town exhibition will be on show at the Chavonnes Battery Museum at the Clock Tower Precinct at the Waterfront.
The press photo contest is hosted by Rossiya Segodnya, with the backing of the Russian Commission for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the goal to support young photographers and draw public attention to the challenges of modern photojournalism.
A total of 67 winning world images across four categories will be on show until November 30.
One of the winners in the prestigious contest was South Africa's Justin Sullivan who was the winner of the Top News section with a photograph of a stand-off between a protester and a police officer, while he was also a runner-up in the My Planet category for his series of images on Cape Town fires.
Speaking at the opening of the ceremony, Consul General of the Russian Federation in Cape Town, Roman Ambarov said: "For the third year in a row, Cape Town has been one of the cities hosting the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest winners’ display. The local public is not only interested in the exhibition – every year, Cape Town photojournalists participate in the contest, winning various nominations.”
Sullivan took the first prize in the Top News Single category for his photograph titled 'Stand Off'.
"The award-winning photo not only draws attention to the complex topic of public protests but also serves as a reminder of how difficult and dangerous a photo correspondent’s work is. Despite the universally declared commitment to protecting the rights of media representatives, journalists and particularly photo-journalists continue to be harassed and abused. The tragic fate of Andrei Stenin, who was killed during the shelling of a column of refugees by the Ukrainian army in August 2014, is eloquent proof. With deep regret, we have to note that abuse cases against the Russian media have become more frequent since then if anything. Suffice it to mention one of these cases – the arrest of Kirill Vyshinsky, head of RIA Novosti Ukraine, on trumped-up charges of high treason. Attempts to impede the work of the Russian media continues to be recorded in other countries."
ANA Pictures Director of Photography Ian Landsberg said the African News Agency (ANA) and Independent Media are proud to host for the third consecutive year exhibitions of the winning pictures of the Andrei Stenin International Photo Contest.
"Showcasing the incredible work of these young, up-and-coming photojournalists from 77 countries in the touring exhibitions, amplifies on a global scale the power and scope of their storytelling efforts. We are proud to be associated with the Stenin Photo Contest because we share the same core values of empowering young intrepid photojournalists and visual storytellers to document and communicating the bespoke stories and issues of their country, communities and people."