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Coronavirus pandemic

Members of Xinhua, Reuters shortlisted in Overcoming COVID photo contest by TASS

In all, about 4,000 photographs from more than 80 countries were submitted to the competition

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Representatives of Xinhua, Reuters, the Associated Press and other news agencies have become finalists of the News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID international competition organized by TASS.

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About 4,000 applications submitted to News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID photo contest

"The short list includes 16 photos in the Single Photo category and 12 works in the Photo Series category," the TASS department of corporate communications reported.

Among the finalists in the Single Photo category are works by Xiao Yijiu (Xinhua), Ilya Pitalev (MIA Russia Today, Sputnik), Brais Lorenzo Couto (EFE), Josh Edelson (freelancer), Aly Song (Reuters) and others. The shortlist for the Photo Series nomination includes Rodrigo Miguel Abd (the Associated Press), Ilya Pitalev (MIA Russia Today, Sputnik), and Valery Sharifulin (TASS).

"We got acquainted with a very large number of photos. Despite being brought together for a single topic, they all significantly differ in emotional and spiritual terms. All of them evoke deep reflections about the value of human life, and about the real peril that humanity is facing. At the same time, in many of the works, the authors sought to highlight hope, unity, and solidarity among people during these difficult times of the pandemic. The objective of documentary photojournalism is to present the story as it is, without any photoshopping or embellishments," Grigory Dukor, head of the Photo and Video Department at TASS and chairman of the competition’s jury said.

In all, about 4,000 photographs from more than 80 countries were submitted to the competition. China, India, Malaysia, Iran, Russia, Italy, Turkey, and the US rank as the leaders as far as the number of submitted works goes.

The winners will be announced on March 11, 2021, the one-year anniversary of the announcement of the coronavirus pandemic by the World Health Organization. The Grand Prize winner will receive $10,000 and the winners of the Single Photo and Photo Series categories will receive $3,000 each.

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