Andrei Stenin Contest closes submissions for its 12th edition

The 12th Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest closed for submissions on February 28, 2026. The contest has received over 2,500 entries. An expert Commission will soon review the entries and select a list of contestants for the final vote.

The international jury will receive the selected entries in mid-April to draw up the short list of finalists and select winners in six categories, Top News, Sports, My Planet, Portrait. A Hero of Our Time, Top View, and The Energy of Life. In each category, first, second and third prize winners will be announced for single images and photo series. The jury will also select a Grand Prix winner.

The short list of the 12th Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest will be released on June 17, 2026.

This year’s jury consists of world-acclaimed award-winning masters of photography from India, China, Lebanon, Mexico, Russia and the UAE.

Grigory Dukor is an advisor at the RIA Novosti News Agency. He began his career in photojournalism in the late 1980s as a freelance photographer for the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper. In 1990, he started working as a photographer for Reuters, and later headed the Reuters Photo Service in Russia and the CIS for 21 years. In 2018-2023, he headed the photo service at TASS, a Russian news agency. Since 2020, he has taught photography at the Faculty of Journalism at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.

Patrick Baz is a French-Lebanese photojournalist, born in 1963 in Beirut. In the 1980s, he worked as a freelance photographer for major global media outlets (Time, Newsweek, Paris Match, Der Spiegel, and others). He is currently Photo Editor and Director of the AFP photo correspondent network in the Middle East and North Africa, balancing editorial duties and his own photo projects. He has worked in conflict zones in the Persian Gulf, Kurdistan, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is a World Press Photo jury member and mentor. He also judges several international war journalism awards.

Iván Macías is a Mexican documentary photographer and a World Press Photo award winner. In his work, he uses documentary photography as a tool for social critique and raising awareness about the world. Throughout his career, he has received 15 international awards. He is the author of the book Footprints of the Pandemic (2021) and his work has been exhibited worldwide. In addition to his photography practice, Macías is an active lecturer at prestigious institutions such as UNAM and the Franz Mayer Museum.

Alia AlShamsiis an Emirati-Italian photographer, author, and illustrator, born in Dubai in 1982. She studied Photography with a focus on Social Documentary at Griffith University (Australia) and later pursued a Master’s in Photo-Image from Durham University (UK), with her thesis exploring the archives and memory of the UAE. Her career in photojournalism saw her cover both local and international events. Her works have been exhibited internationally, and she represented the UAE as an author and illustrator at prestigious international book fairs.

Guo Jing is a curator and photographer, and recently an Art Consultant of the Shangtuf Image and Art photo agency. She has judged multiple international photo contests and festivals in the United States, Austria, Greece, the UAE, Italy, and many more. She serves as Vice President of Global Photographic Union (GPU). She has also curated award-winning exhibitions at the Pingyao International Photo Festival and the Shanghai International Photography Festival. She received the honorary title of Top Ten Chinese Photography Curators. She is actively involved in photography and cultural exchanges and oversees joint events with collaborators in many countries.

Gurinder Osan is a winner of multiple photo contests specializing in photojournalism, landscape, social and documentary photography. He works as Photo Editor at the Press Trust of India (PTI), leading a group of photographers from all over India. He also worked as a photo editor at Hindustan Times and a war photo correspondent at Associated Press in New Delhi. He has covered wars, sporting events, disasters, and the lives of ordinary people. He has collaborated with Business World and Indian Express, worked as a freelance photographer for UNICEF and various NGOs. As an experienced mountain climber, he has extensively worked in the Himalayas. He is a mentor and jury member of many prestigious photo contests and festivals.