Photo Contest: discover the 18 shortlisted finalists

Eighteen photographers – three each from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – have been shortlisted for the EU NEIGHBOURS EAST – FOTOFESTIWAL photo contest around the theme of ‘family connections’.

The 18 finalists have been invited to the Georgian capital Tbilisi, where six winners – one from each country – will be announced at a gala awards event on 31 March, taking home a prize of €1,000 each. 

From a total of more than 400 applications, the team of five top international judges eventually drew up the shortlist of three photographers from each country.

The competition invited photographers to submit a set of between 8 and 20 photographs with their 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?

Each shortlisted entry has a special page on the EU NEIGHBOURS EAST website, where you can view the selected photo stories. The 18 shortlisted photographers are:

Armenia

Nazik Armenakyan – My War (Fragmentary Experience)

Mane Hovhannisyan – Fabula

Hrant Khachatryan – New Born

Azerbaijan

Orkhan Azimov – Remote from Education

Aziz Karimov – Azerbaijan Implements Measures to Tackle the Coronavirus Outbreak

Ilkin Yagubov – Interlacement

Belarus

Pasha Kritchko – Belarusian connections

Veranika Maliauka – Memories of home

Tatsiana Tkachova – Motherland

Georgia

Natela Grigalashvili – The Final Days of Georgian Nomads

Ekaterine Kolesnikova – Morning Comes Too Soon

Tako Robakidze – ‘Peacekeepers‘

Moldova

Maria Gutu – Homeland

Ramin Mazur – Left Bank

Katerina Shosheva – Sem’ya

Ukraine

Artem Humilevskyi – Roots

Olena Morozova – Granny

Marysia Myanovska – Oh, brother, where art thou?

The contest is organised by the EU NEIGHBOURS EAST programme, in partnership with Fotofestiwal. EU NEIGHBOURS EAST is an EU-funded regional communication programme that raises awareness of the European Union, its policies and support projects in its Eastern Neighbourhood. Fotofestiwal was established in 2001 as a collective of professionals working with photography, and has since grown into one of the most significant photographic festivals in Europe.