TASS announces kickoff of second international News Photo Awards contest

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. TASS Russian News Agency opened its doors to accepting entries for the international News Photo Awards contest on Monday. This year the competition, which is being held for the second time, is titled: A Changing World, the TASS Department of Corporate Communications said. "For us as one of the world’s leading news agencies, which this year also celebrates the 95th anniversary of the TASS Photo Agency, it’s very crucial to support photojournalists from various corners of the globe, who are working as professionals under various conditions, even very challenging ones," TASS Director General Sergey Mikhailov said, stressing that this work is difficult, tense and carries responsibilities. What’s more, he mentioned that at times the occupation is very dangerous, while also highlighting reporters’ professional skills. The first contest - News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID - sparked enormous interest from the worldwide professional photographer community, Mikhailov noted. "Some 4,000 snapshots from more than 80 countries were submitted. All members of the jury underscored the very high level of the participants’ works. So, we decided to hold the News Photo Awards annually," he said. Entries can be submitted by press photographers, who work or cooperate with media outlets. The winners will be selected in four categories: News, People & Lifestyle, and Healthcare and Environment. For each above-mentioned category, two winners will be nominated for Best Single Photo and Best Photo Series. Thus, here, in total, eight $3,000 prizes await winners. That being said, the best photo of all entered will be awarded the Grand Prize. The creator of this snapshot masterpiece will receive $10,000. While explaining the choice of the topic for the contest, Mikhailov pointed out that amid the COVID-19 pandemic things throughout the globe are changing at lightning speed. "The professional eye of photo reporters from around the world can help us see and most importantly, record these transformations," the TASS director general said. "While working on the ‘frontlines’, photojournalists are the first to identify and reveal the most important and interesting things. They capture key events for the entire world, with many of them later becoming a crucial feature of world history, by freezing these moments in time for future generations." Applications for the contest will be accepted until December 24, 2021. After that the jury members, who represent the world’s leading media outlets, will pick out the best snapshots and choose the winners, and their names will be announced in March 2022. Like last year, participation in the contest is free-of-charge. About the first contest The topic of the first photo contest, News Photo Awards, was Overcoming COVID. This creative competition organized by TASS offered the opportunity to really comprehend the importance of press photographers’ work and that the lines between their usual everyday professionalism and extraordinary heroism can easily overlap. The entries for the first contest were accepted from October to December 2020, and the winners were announced on March 11, 2021 - on the first anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. Read more