TASS' News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID contest wins global communications competition

The first international photo contest for professional press photographers News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID, organized and held by TASS, has received the Eventiada IPRA GWA award in the “Best International Project” category.

Eventiada IPRA GWA is the largest communications award in Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Central Asia. This year, bids for the award have been submitted from 15 countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Croatia, and Estonia. Among the participants are major international and national corporations, global and regional public organizations, state bodies, leading communications agencies, and the creative youth.

Commenting on the News Photo Awards’ award, the jury’s chair Grigory Dukor, who heads the Photo and Video Service at the TASS Russian News Agency, said: “When we were holding the contest, most borders in the world were still closed, while the need to keep social distancing became part and parcel of the new normal. But the work of photojournalists from various countries played an important role in the process of bringing people closer, uniting them around the common goal of overcoming the coronavirus pandemic.”

According to him, although the issue is very difficult, the images by the contestants reflected hope, emotional connection, and cohesion of the planet’s citizens in the fight against the pandemic.

“That’s why we particularly appreciated that this contest was the winner, especially as an international project. This is an encouraging assessment not only for our organizing efforts but also the work of the contest’s international jury, which consists of prominent professionals in the field. And no doubt, this motivates us incredibly for new achievements,” Dukor said.

This year, the News Photo Awards is being held for the second time and is entitled A Changing World. Applications for the contest are being accepted until December 24, 2021. The winners will be announced in March 2022.