The Russian Geographical Society has approved the main Jury of the annual photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country". This year it includes titled Russian photographers, artists, and five foreign experts. By tradition, the President of the Russian Geographical Society Sergey Shoigu also joined the experts.
The focus of the competition is Russia, nature, people, wild animals, unique natural phenomena and the history of our country. In total, "The Most Beautiful Country" includes ten adult, four children's categories, as well as three special prizes.
The winners of the competition aged 17 and over will receive large cash prizes of 250,000 rubles. The winners in the children's categories will receive quadcopters. Each owner of the special prize is entitled to 100,000 rubles. The works of the finalists will be seen by the whole world at traveling and online exhibitions of the Russian Geographical Society.
The full list of the Jury of the VIII Photo Contest "The Most Beautiful Country":
Sergey Shoigu – President of the Russian Geographical Society;
Sergey Gorshkov – Russian wildlife photographer, the best world photographer of 2020 according to Wildlife Photographer of the Year;
Ivan Vagner – test cosmonaut at Roscosmos;
Sergey Garmash – theater and film actor, director, screenwriter;
Vladimir Mashkov – theater and film actor, director, producer;
Yuriy Smityuk – Russian photographer, winner of the VII Photo Contest “The Most Beautiful Country” in 2021 in the “Landscape” category;
Olga Michi – Russian photographer, author of documentary, scientific and educational projects;
Yulia Petrova – Director of the Museum of Russian Impressionism;
Zara (Zarifa Mgoyan) – Russian singer, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation;
Philippe Ros – French cinematographer, producer;
Marco Urso – Italian wildlife photographer and travel photojournalist;
Andrew Parkinson – British wildlife photographer;
Michel Roggo – Swiss wildlife photographer;
Luciano Gaudenzio – Italian wildlife photographer.
The rules for participation in the RGS contest "The Most Beautiful Country" are very democratic: photos can be taken on a smartphone; amateur photographers will compete on a par with professionals. The selection will take place in two stages: first, tens of thousands of photographs will be evaluated by members of the Expert Commission. They will select ten works in each adult category and five in each children's category.
The works selected at the preliminary stage will be presented to the Jury. The winners of the contest "The Most Beautiful Country" will be determined on condition of complete anonymity.