EU celebrates family connections: photo contest winners announced at awards gala in Tbilisi

The six winners of the Family Connections photo contest have been announced at a gala awards event in Tbilisi on 31 March. Winners from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine take home a prize of €1,000 each.

The EUNEIGHBOURS EAST – FOTOFESTIWAL photo contest, funded by the European Union, invited professional photographers from the six Eastern Partnership countries to enter a set of photographs around the theme of Family Connections. 

From a total of more than 400 entries, a team of five top international judges drew up a shortlist of three photographers from each country, who were all invited to the awards ceremony at the Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum, where their photo stories were projected in an interactive display.

The gala awards event was hosted by Pawel Herczynski, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, and Nestan Nizharadze, the co-founder of Tbilisi Photography & Multimedia Museum, and attended by local celebrities, and media, bloggers and influencers from across the region. 

Presenting the awards, Ambassador Pawel Herczynski said: “Through this photo contest, we are proud to showcase the EU’s commitment to fostering cultural exchange and promoting the power of photography as a tool for reflection and change. The theme of Family and family connections highlight the importance of our shared values and the role Family plays in shaping our societies. Congratulations to all the photographers for their creative and inspiring interpretations.”

The photo competition sought personal interpretations around the theme of ‘family connections’: how does family connect us to our roots, culture, traditions, attitudes and future? Which connections define a family and make us belong? How do these connections adapt to changing worlds, technology, conflict, love and loss?

The winning entries approached these themes from a wide range of personal approaches.

The winners are:

Armenia

Nazik Armenakyan – My War (Fragmentary Experience)

Above all a mother: the photographer’s personal story when her eldest son was mobilised in 2020.

Azerbaijan

Orkhan Azimov – Remote from Education

A glimpse into the lives and struggles of children in a remote mountain village of Azerbaijan. 

Belarus

Pasha Kritchko – Belarusian connections

Portraits of family connections among Belarusians driven into exile by the events of 2020.

Georgia

Natela Grigalashvili – The Final Days of Georgian Nomad 

A documentary project exploring the lives of nomad families in mountainous Adjara.

Moldova

Katerina Shosheva – Sem’ya

A cross-section of time: inter-generational relationships through the eyes of one family, her own.

Ukraine

Marysia Myanovska – Oh, brother, where art thou?

Fragments of lives and memory in the urban ghetto: a project dedicated to her brother

The contest was organised by the EU NEIGHBOURS EAST programme, in partnership with Fotofestiwal. The gala awards event in Tbilisi was organised in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia and the Tbilisi Photography Museum.

Winners: