On August 18, at the opening ceremony of the Festival of the Russian Geographical Society in the capital's Zaryadye Park, the winners of the annual photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" were announced. Here are their names and categories.
In 2022, the VIII Photo Contest "The Most Beautiful Country" received 46,893 images from 5,934 authors. The works were accepted in ten adult categories. Young authors (under the age of 16) could send their pictures to the competition in four categories. Also this year, three special prizes were established: "Behind the Scenes" for the best short video telling the story of the creation of a particular photo; "People’s Choice Award" – its winner was chosen on the Internet by open voting; and "Reserved Russia" – a prize from the partner of the contest, VTB Bank, to the author of the best photo taken in specially protected natural areas.
"Тяжёлое время". Фото: Константин Шатенев, победитель конкурса "Самая красивая страна - 2022" в номинации "Дикие животные"
The photos were evaluated by the Jury members of the VIII Photo Contest "The Most Beautiful Country". Among them are the President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergei Shoigu, the world's best photographer of 2020 according to Wildlife Photographer of the Year Sergey Gorshkov, cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, actors Sergey Garmash and Vladimir Mashkov, Italian wildlife photographer and travel photojournalist Marco Urso and others.
The most popular category was "Landscape" (23,805 works submitted). 3691 photos competed for the victory in the category "Birds", "Macroworld" – 3723 photos, "Faces of Russia" – 2958 photos. And now, the list of winners.
Winners of the Main Contest "The Most Beautiful Country"
"Landscape"
Nikolay Vasiliev "Zaslon"
"Wild Animals"
Konstantin Shatenev "Hard Times"
"Russia from a Bird's Eye View"
Dmitry Arkhipov "Foggy Morning near the Ferapontov Monastery"
"Elemental Magic"
Evgeny Vladimirov "Restless Pacific"
"Birds"
Elena Pakhalyuk "In Ice Captivity"
"The Art of Wildlife (fine-art photography)"
Alexander Razumov "Nature is a Great Artist"
"Faces of Russia"
Yulia Borovikova "War Hero Ivan Meshcheryakov"
"Macroworld"
Anatoly Brachisty "The Center of the Universe"
"Underwater World"
Egor Nikiforov "Aurelia"
"Live Archive"
Alexander Maksin "Live Archive"
Winners of the Contest "The Most Beautiful Country through the Eyes of Children"
"Landscape"
Georgy Lavrentiev "Early in the Morning"
"Animal World"
Ivan Gorshkov "Yellowhammers"
"The World from a Bird's Eye View"
Yaroslav Merkulov "Roe Deer Shadows"
"Natural Phenomena"
Ksenia Marshalka "Little Boughs"
Special Prizes
"Reserved Russia"
Vladimir Ivanov "Swan Lake"
"Rare Animal Species in the Wild"
Svetlana Gorbatykh "Ghost of the Primorsky Taiga"
"People’s Choice Award"
Alexander Mikhailenko "Star Wanderers"
"Behind the Scenes"
Andrey Podkorytov
The winners in the adult categories will receive a cash prize of 250,000 rubles. The winners in the children's categories will get a professional quadcopter. The winners of the "People’s Choice Award" and the special prize "Behind the Scenes" will receive a reward in the amount of 100,000 rubles.
"Аурелия". Фото: Егор Никифоров, победитель конкурса "Самая красивая страна - 2022" в номинации "Подводный мир"
Photos by the winners and laureates of the competition can be seen by everyone in Zaryadye Park, where the RGS Festival is taking place. The exhibition is presenting 131 photographs taken on the territory of Russia – this is the main and virtually the only condition of the photo contest. Thanks to the photo exhibition, each guest will be able to travel to remote corners of Russia, see rare animals in their natural habitat and, perhaps, be inspired to go on their own journey through the most beautiful country.
The annual photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" is a large-scale media project of the Russian Geographical Society dedicated to the preservation of Russia's wildlife and fostering respect for the environment. It was first held in 2015. In eight years of the competition’s existence, more than 500,000 works have been uploaded to the project’s website photo.rgo.ru.