The Stars Aligned: Who is on the Jury of "The Most Beautiful Country"

The Jury of the VII RGS Photo Contest "The Most Beautiful Country" was announced. It includes famous photographers, cameramen, actors and directors. They filmed and photographed in the most inaccessible corners of the planet and even from the Earth's orbit, created photo projects and documentaries that attracted millions of viewers, and now they will evaluate works of the participants of "The Most Beautiful Country". To date, 28 thousand images have been submitted to the competition.

For the first time, the Jury includes French cameraman Philippe Ros, one of the creators of the epic documentary "Oceans". This is one of the most spectacular wildlife films of today. Shooting took place all over the world for more than five years, and the film was watched by more than 9 million people around the world.

In addition, several world renowned photographers will evaluate photos of the contestants. Among them are Thorsten Milse (Germany), Florian Ledoux (France) and Marco Urso (Italy). These are photographers who know and love the nature of Russia. "I have been coming to Russia every year since 2012. This is a beautiful country with untouched nature. My photographs taken here have received several awards at international competitions. Photography encourages us to take care of nature. I am sure that through the RGS competition we will be able to spread this idea",  Marco Urso commented on his decision to join the Jury.

The Russian "team" of the jury is also traditionally strong. There is Sergey Gorshkov, Best Wildlife Photographer of 2020 according to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award; animal photographer, chairman of the Union of Wildlife Photographers Viktor Tyakht; renowned reportage photographer, two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Maxim Marmur; Alexander Ivanov, who specializes in macro photography.

In addition to photographers, the Jury of "The Most Beautiful Country" always includes people from different spheres of art and social life, who have their own views on the artistic value of photographs. So, among the members of the Jury are theater and film actors Sergei Garmash and Anton Shagin; founder of the Lumiere Brothers Gallery and the Lumiere Brothers Center for Photography Natalia Grigorieva-Litvinskaya; director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts Marina Loshak; cosmonaut Ivan Wagner, who did not give up his passion for photography even in orbit of the Earth.

Vladimir Mashkov, artistic director of the Oleg Tabakov Moscow Theater, also joined the Jury. "Catching a shot, as photographers say, is an art! Telling a long story in one shot is a great art!" he noted.

Submissions for the VII Photo Contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country" opened on December 14, 2020, and will be open until April 5, 2021.

Entries are accepted in 10 categories: "Landscape", "Wild Animals", "Those Funny Animals", "Russia from a Bird's Eye View", "Art of Wildlife (fine-art photography)", "Many Faces of Russia", "Taken on a Smartphone", "Photo Project", "Live Archive" and "Magic of Water".

For young photographers under 16 years old, a separate competition is held – "The Most Beautiful Country Through The Eyes Of Children".

The jury meeting, which will determine the winners, will take place in May-June 2021. Prizes for the winners are 250 thousand rubles in each category of the main competition and professional cameras for young photographers.