The Competition of World Press Photo refused to invite TASS from TASS to the awarding ceremony, which received a premium for a photo of Georgian protests

One of the photos of Mikhail Tereshchenko who received the World Press Photo Award

The non -profit organization of the World Press Photo, conducting the annual international competition in the field of photojournalism, withdrew an invitation to the awarding ceremony of the photographer of the Russian propaganda agency Mikhail Tereshchenko, who received a premium for a series of photographs of protests in Georgia and the results of the parliamentary elections. This was reported on the organization’s website.

“Given the increased tension on the European continent, at this stage we can no longer receive a guest from the Russian organization controlled by the state. As a result, Mikhail Tereshchenko is no longer invited to the winners awarding program and the award ceremony in Amsterdam, ”the report said. At the same time, Tereshchenko is not called a reward.

The press secretary of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called the organizers the decision of the “shame” and “self-arrival” and emphasized that from 1956 to 1992, TASS photographs took prizes at the competition more than 25 times.

Tereshchenko, who was working in TASS and openly supporting Russia in the war with Ukraine, for covering protests in Georgia, which was subjected to Russian invasion in 2008 and lost part of its international territory as a result of Russian occupation, caused indignation among Georgian photographers and civilian activists, critical comments can also be found in the World Press Photo community in the world Facebook.

Africa; Asia-Pacific region and oceania; Europe; North and Central America; South America; Western, Central and South Asia.

In an earlier statement, the organizers emphasized that the competitive work is evaluated by the jury with anonymized: at the first stage of selection, judges do not know anything about the authors at all, only limited information, such as nationality and gender affiliation of the photographer, are revealed at the later.

“Many Georgian photographers are outraged by the fact that a Russian photographer working for a Russian news agency controlled by the state, which is reasonably criticized for the lack of independence, was awarded for covering these protests. An inconvenient fact is that the awarded project was chosen for his own virtues - regardless of the personality of the photographer or his employer (which are not disclosed by the jury) or the views of the photographer, ”the organizers said. At the same time, the authors of the application promised to “improve the rules and procedures for working with applications from photographers working in state agencies,” but they refused to revise the jury and call the award from Tereshchenko. “If we ignore or change our rules in this case in this case, what will we do in the next case or in what will follow this? We will work to improve our rules and procedures, but we must always apply them fairly even without exception. Our competition has a global coverage, and its rules should be applicable to a variety of contexts, ”said Juman Zeyn Huri, Executive Director of the World Press Photo, Juman.

The World Press Photo Competition includes several stages of selection: at the regional stage of the college of the jury of five people working in each of the six regions , they select a list of finalists in their region from the applications. Further, the global jury of six people select 42 winners - three in the nominations “Single Picture” and “Series of Pictures” and one in the “Long -term project” nomination for each region. Winners receive a prize of 1000 euros, advancement from the organization, a memorial sign and inclusion in the annual World Press Photo exhibition. Also, from these 42 works, the winner of the main award is selected - the World Press Photo of the Year - and two finalists. All three receive an additional set of photography, and the winner of the World Press Photo of the Year award is an additional cash prize of 10,000 euros. Tereshchenko received the award in the nomination "Series of Pictures" for the European region. The announcement of the World Press Photo of the Year and two finalists will take place on April 17 and purely theoretically Tereshchenko retains a chance to win.

Africa; Asia-Pacific region and oceania; Europe; North and Central America; South America; Western, Central and South Asia.

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