The Jury members of the photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" have determined the winners in 14 main categories. Their names will be announced at the V Festival of the Russian Geographical Society, which will be held from August 18 to 28, 2022, in the very center of Moscow, on the territory of Zaryadye Park.
Also, at the main geography festival in the capital of Russia, the winners of the special prizes of the photo contest "The Most Beautiful Country" will be named. The People’s Choice Award will be awarded to the photographer whose work was recognized as the best during an open online voting held from May 23 to June 6, 2022, on the website of the photo contest. VTB Bank has determined the winner of the prize "Reserved Russia" for the best picture taken in specially protected natural areas. The organizers of the photo contest have chosen the winner of the special prize "Behind the Scenes" for the best video made during the process of taking a particular photo.
In 2022, the VIII Photo Contest "The Most Beautiful Country" received a total of 46,893 images from 5,934 authors. The most popular category was "Landscape" (23,805 works were submitted). 3691 photos competed for the victory in the category "Birds"; "Macroworld" – 3723 photos; "Faces of Russia" – 2958 photos.
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 seven years of the competition's existence more than 500,000 works have been uploaded to the project's website photo.rgo.ru.
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". Young authors (under the age of 16) could send their pictures in four categories: "Landscape", "Animal World", "The World from a Bird's Eye View ", and "Natural Phenomena".
Three special prizes have also been established: "Behind the scenes" – the prize for the best short video telling the story of the creation of a particular photo; "People’s Choice Award" – its owner was chosen on the Internet by open voting; and "Reserved Russia" – the prize from the partner of the contest, VTB Bank, will be awarded to the author of the best photo taken in specially protected natural areas.