The photo, which shows a villager with his harvest of cauliflower, taken by Bangladeshi photographer Rafid Yasar, won almost a quarter of the online votes.

A winner’s words

Yasar hopes that his work’s recognition by a wide audience will help him achieve his dream of becoming a film director, pointing out that he understands “that popular voting is for the Grand Prix, but each vote means support. I don’t know if there is any participant in the contest hoping to win as much as I am. However, let the strongest work win.”

Selection process

Last June, the Contest’s international jury announced the 2021 winners’ shortlist, after evaluating about 4,500 works from 70 countries.

The shortlist includes participants from 17 countries, including China, UK, Germany, Spain, Greece, Egypt, India, Turkey, and other countries, noting that for the first time, the list includes young photographers from Indonesia, Mexico, and Canada.

Winner announcement

At the end of September, the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest will hold an online ceremony to announce the winner of the Grand Prix, as well as the winners of the category awards from the 2021 shortlist. As per tradition, the organizers plan to launch an international tour of the winning photos around various cities in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East, by the end of the year.

Earlier, Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, under the auspices of UNESCO, had launched its annual international photography "Stenin Contest 2021".

About the contest

As every year, the applications came under four categories: news, humanitarian, sports, and social, as well as the “A Hero from this Time” category sponsored by Al Mayadeen for the fifth year in a row. Al Mayadeen will grant the “With Humans Everywhere” award to the winner. 

The organizer chose to name the competition after the Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin, in honor of his memory, having worked in red zones in our Arab World such as Egypt, Syria, Libya, and Gaza, and was martyred in August 2014 while covering the war in Ukraine, after winning the "Silver Camera" award in 2010 and 2013.

It also set the date of his birth on September 22 as the annual date to start receiving the works of photographers wishing to participate in the competition.

The annual contest, launched in December 2014, sees its mission in supporting young photographers and drawing public attention to the challenges of photojournalism today. It is a platform for young photographers – talented and sensitive individuals open to all things new – to highlight the people and events around us.