The Photography of the Year Award

14-16 December 2022

Kazan/Tatarstan (Russian Federation) 

The Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan (Russian Federation) and the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum (ICYF) are organizing the award of the Photography of the Year, in partnership with the Academy of Youth Diplomacy and Tatarstan Republican Youth Public Foundation “SELET” on 14-16 December 2022 in Kazan, Tatarstan (RF). 

AIM

The Photography of the Year Award aims at recognizing the achievements of young photographers from the OIC Member States, the Muslim community in Non-OIC Member States, and the Russian Federation.

OBJECTIVES

The Photography of the Year Award targets to achieve the following objectives:

1. Stimulation of social, creative, and intellectual activity among young photographers.
2. Providing valuable opportunities for artists working in photography and helping broaden the conversation around their work.
3. Creating opportunities for talented young photographers.

LOCATION & DATE

Location: Kazan/Tatarstan (Russian Federation)
Date: 14-16 December 2022

SELECTION CRITERIA

Everyone who meets the following criteria is welcome to apply for the Photography of the Year Award:

● Youth aged 18-35 from OIC Member States, Observer-States, and Muslim communities in non-OIC Countries.
● Photograph or series of Photographs should reflect social issues and reveal the theme of “Youth in the Islamic world”;
● Each candidate can participate in the competition with a maximum of 3 (three) digital color or black and white photographs;
● The photographs should have been taken within the last year;
● Except for photographic interventions such as light, contrast, color, and grain that will not spoil the character of the photograph, photographs in which some purely graphic Photoshop or similar software effects (such as watercolor filters, etc.) to be applied will be eliminated;
● The participant accepts and declares, among other things, that the work(s) he/she sends to the competition belongs entirely to him, and that all necessary permissions have been obtained for the subjects in the photographs that may constitute a copyright issue. Any intervention or modification by contestants, aiming to mislead the assessment committee by presenting another person’s photograph as their own work will be considered as a violation of the rules;
● Submission must attach a short bio for the applicants (professional background, education history, awards and achievements, social media pages);
● Contest photographs must be saved in the jpg/jpeg format, 300 dpi and 7-12 compression quality, with a short edge of a minimum of 1920 pixels and a long edge of a maximum of 3200 pixels, and the size of the files should not be less than 1 Mb and more than 10 Mb. The Participants should add an explanatory text for each of the photos composed of (150-250 characters would be more than enough) characters while submitting photographs. The explanation text must be in English;
● NAMING OF PHOTOGRAPHS: The name of the file should consist of the participant name, and number of the photo participating in the contest, eg: NAME AND SURNAME_NAME OF PHOTO1;
● Ability to communicate in English.

RECOMMENDATION FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHERS:

Here are some points that can make the photos better and objective
● The Rule of Thirds: The rule of thirds is well-known; the basic principle is that the shot will look better if the photographer puts points of interest on the thirds of the frame. It can visualize these points when imagining lines dividing the screen into nine blocks: three sections vertically, and three sections horizontally. Adding points of interest on the thirds will help eliminate any unnecessary distractions in the photo.
● The Depth of the Shoot: What the photographer chooses to show (or not to show) illustrates a lot about what’s in the shot. 
● The depth of the scene is affected by: 
Location: Where does the photographer shoot?
Lens: What lens should use and it’s capacity to provide depth of the shot? 

THE FORMAT AND METHODOLOGY

The Photography of the Year Award will be held in 3 stages: 

​Stage 1 – Call for Applications and Application Process: Between 4 – 15 November 2022.

​Stage 2 – Selection and Qualifying stage: Between 15- 23 November 2022.
​According to the application results, only one participant will be accepted for the OIC Youth Leaders Awarding ceremony. Competitive selection of the candidate for the Photography of the Year Award is carried out by an expert jury committee on a completed application and the indicated achievements.

​Stage 3 – Participation in the OIC Youth Leaders Awarding Ceremony: Between 14-16 December 2022.

​The Photography of the Year Award is a part of the OIC Youth Awards. The Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022 Closing Ceremony and the OIC Youth Leaders Awarding Ceremony are designed for 3 days (14-16) December 2022 and include a cultural programme.

COSTS

The Host Country covers accommodation and local expenses. The Organizing Committee also considers the option of partly or fully covering the flight ticket costs for participants who require financial support.

IMPORTANT TIMELINE  

Application Deadline: 15 November 2022

CERTIFICATE

The nominee Photography of the Year will be awarded a specially produced statuette, branded merch, and certificate issued by the Kazan OIC Youth Capital 2022 Organising Committee.

CONTACT

Ms. Lyaysan Safiullova, Programme Coordinator.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +7 (952) 478-31-98

 

APPLY