Cape Town - The Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest’s international jury of leading photography experts has selected the best entries from over 5 000 submissions.
Young photojournalists from 75 countries competed in the contest this year. The shortlist includes photographers from 19 countries, including Russia, the United States, France, India, Italy, Spain, Iran, Bangladesh, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Belarus, South Africa, China, and for the first time, the United Kingdom, Austria, Argentina, Brazil and Haiti.
According to the organisers, this year’s entries are distinguished by the painterly quality of extreme visual beauty. Through its code, young photojournalists have tried to express and understand the most pressing problems of today, from social and political clashes to environmental issues. They believe beauty to have a great humanistic influence that can save the world.
The competition was established by Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya in memory of photojournalist Stenin, whose car was shelled while he was on assignment in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2014.
Organisers said that by the end of February, thousands of entries were received from dozens of countries for the 2020 competition. The majority of contestants were from Russia, Iran, Italy, China and India.
Regarding the 2020 winners, the curator of the Andrei Stenin Contest and head of Rossiya Segodnya’s visual projects, Oksana Oleinik said: “The philosophy of the noosphere and problems with the oceans, the revival of exotic jobs in modern India and the preservation of the ecological balance in Congo, the outbreaks of the Ebola virus on the African continent and the religious traditions of small nations, these are just some of the subjects that our shortlisted photojournalists have depicted.
“In young photojournalism there is no concept of a ‘closed’ or ‘passing’ subject. Our contestants suggest that in today’s world there is no separate disaster or well-being, one is connected with the other. Viewers cannot help but be surprised and amazed by how skillfully and accurately they reveal these links.”
The Grand Prix and category winners will be announced in September on stenincontest.ru | stenincontest.com. Contest organisers said they also plan to launch the traditional winners’ roadshow at various world cities through the end of the year.
The Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest, organised by Rossiya Segodnya under the patronage of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, aims to support young photographers and draw public attention to the challenges of photojournalism today.