About the competition

The photo contest of the Russian Geographical Society was first held in 2015. It immediately set out to become the largest Russian wildlife photography contest. In the first year, 25 thousand participants sent about 200 thousand pictures. And in six years, the number of photos sent has increased to 510 thousand.

Any person can become a participant of the competition, regardless of place of residence, citizenship and age.

The only condition is that the photographs must be taken in Russia.

Marina Loshak

Director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Photos like these give an incredible burst of energy!
I look at the pictures with the eyes of an artist who chooses one image or another and creates it. I envy people who can turn on deep loving meditation within themselves to get such pictures.

How to participate in the competition

1. Register on the website photo.rgo.ru or enter your personal account under an existing login.
2. Go through SMS authorization process.
3. Upload photos to the site. No more than 25 works.
4. In your personal account, keep track of how the experts evaluated your works, whether they pass to the semifinals and finals.
5. It should be pointed out that everyone, regardless of age and place of residence, can participate in the competition. The only condition is that all photographs must be taken in Russia.

How we evaluate works

• At the first stage, the photographs are evaluated by the members of the Expert Commission – these are 16 professional, reputable photographers and photo editors.

Andrey Polikanov

Creative director of the “Takie Dela” portal. Previously, photo editor for Time magazine, head of the editorial photography department of “Russian Reporter”. Jury member of the World Press Photo competition.

Dmitry Kupratsevich

Landscape and travel photographer. Multiple winner and finalist of the photography contests "Wildlife of Russia", 35awards, "My Planet", "The Most Beautiful Country" and others.

Egor Nikiforov

Underwater photographer. Finalist and winner of such photo contests as “Golden Turtle”, “Wildlife of Russia”, Sony WPO, Nature image photo, Underwater photographer of the year and others.

• Each work is evaluated by at least three experts on a 5-point scale.
• Works with an average score of 4+ go to the semifinals.
• 10 finalists in each category are selected from among the semifinalists at the in-person meeting of the Expert Commission.
• The experts do not know the authors of the works. This ensures an impartial assessment.

This is what the in-person meeting of the Expert Commission of the competition looks like.

Follow the progress of the competition
in your personal account

• You will receive an electronic participant certificate , as soon as the first uploaded photo passes pre-moderation for compliance with the terms of the competition.
• You will receive a notification and an electronic certificate of a semi-finalist , if the experts rate your work 4+
• You will receive an electronic certificate of the finalist, as soon as the Expert Commission decides on the 10 best (in their opinion) photos in each category.

Photo album "The Most Beautiful Country"