About 47,000 Works Were Submitted to the RGS Contest "The Most Beautiful Country"

Красоты Чатыр-Дага. Фото: Алексей Пацюк, участник конкурса РГО "Самая красивая страна"

The submissions for the VIII Photo Contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country" are closed. In 2022, 5,934 authors sent 46,893 images and 728 videos up to five minutes long to the Jury.

Among the contestants of "The Most Beautiful Country" there are 5,266 adults and 668 children up to and including 16 years old. Of the ten categories of the main photo contest, the most popular are: "Landscape" (23,808 images), "Macroworld" (3,723), "Birds" (3,690), "Faces of Russia" (2,970).

Of the four categories of the RGS children's competition "The Most Beautiful Country through the Eyes of Children", the largest number of works were submitted in the categories "Landscape" (2461 pictures) and "Animal World" (811).

The Expert Commission consisting of 14 professional photographers and photo editors will select ten finalists in each adult category and five in each children's category by April 30. By the end of June, a jury meeting will be held, which will name the winners, as well as the holders of the second and third places in each category. In addition, Internet users will choose the winner of the People’s Choice Award by open voting from May 16 to May 30. The partner of the contest, VTB Bank, will award a special prize "Reserved Russia" to the author of the best shot taken in specially protected natural territories.

At the VIII Photo Contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country", works were accepted in ten categories: "Landscape", "Wild animals", "Birds", "Russia from a Bird's Eye view", "Art of Wildlife (fine-art photography)", "Faces of Russia", "Macroworld", "Underwater world", "Live Archive" and "Elemental Magic". The new category "Elemental Magic" is a creative development of last year's "Magic of Water". Here compete the photographers who have captured all the variety of natural phenomena: storms and thunderstorms, blizzards and avalanches, hurricanes and floods. 

There are also three special prizes: "Behind the scenes" — the prize for the best short video telling the story of the creation of a particular photo; the People’s Choice Award — the winner will be chosen on the Internet by open voting; and "Reserved Russia" — the prize from the partner of the competition VTB Bank.

For the fourth year in a row, the Russian Geographical Society holds a separate competition for photographers under 16 years of age — "The Most Beautiful Country through the Eyes of Children". Young authors could send works in four categories: "Landscape", "Animal World", "The World from a Bird's Eye View" and "Natural phenomena".

The main award in each category of the main competition is 250,000 rubles. Holders of special prizes will receive 100,000 rubles. And the winners of "The Most Beautiful Country through the Eyes of Children" will get a quadcopter. The finalists' works will take part in exhibitions in Russia and around the world.

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