A special prize within the contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The Most Beautiful Country" will be awarded to the author of a picture taken using a camera trap or an automatic photography system. The award for the best work, the main character of which should be a representative of the animal world of Russia in its natural habitat, will be presented by its founders – the Amur Tiger Center and the PhosAgro company.
The annual photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" is a large-scale media project of the Russian Geographical Society dedicated to the preservation of the wildlife of Russia and fostering respect for the environment. The photo contest was first held in 2015. There are no restrictions on the age and place of residence of participants in the rules of this creative contest. The main condition is that the photos must be taken only on the territory of Russia. Since the inception of the contest, more than 622,000 images have been uploaded to the project’s website photo.rgo.ru.
Since 2019, PhosAgro has been supporting a number of projects of the Amur Tiger Center for the study and conservation of the Amur tiger population. One of them is photomonitoring. Camera traps are purchased as part of this project. They allow employees at specially protected natural territories and the Wildlife Conservation Service to assess the state of the population of the rare wild cat and its food supply.
“Some pictures from camera traps have not only scientific, but also artistic value. You can see that the specialist who set the trap seriously prepared for the shoot, studied the animal (the subject of the shoot) in detail, chose a place to install the camera, the angle, and so on. Many moments from the life of wild animals are almost impossible to shoot without the use of camera traps and automatic photography systems, so such shots are not only a picture, but also a whole story. By establishing a special prize, we, together with PhosAgro PJSC and the Russian Geographical Society, want to support all those who study animals using the most modern technologies," said Sergey Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Center.
A special prize "Shot on a Camera Trap" will be awarded for the best shot with animals in their natural habitat, obtained using a camera trap or an automatic photography system. Any wild animal from any region of our country can be captured in the photo.
The special prize is 100,000 rubles. The winner of the prize will be determined by the Amur Tiger Center and PhosAgro PJSC, who will choose the best work among all those who entered the competition.
The photographs for the IX Photo Contest of the Russian Geographical Society "The most beautiful country" can be submitted until April 16, 2023. You can find out how to send your photos to the organizers on the project’s website.