The Czech Press Photo competition’s international jury has now chosen the nominated pictures for this year—its twenty-seventh. The submissions competed in eight photographic categories, with the jury assessing individual photos and series together. Five experts evaluated over 4,300 pictures taken by 250 photographers from the Czech and Slovak Republics. Nominations will additionally be announced in a parallel competition for pupils and students: Czech Photo Junior. A winner will be announced for the Prague Grant and the partner prize.
“Thanks to thorough pre-selection, the jury could work with maximum efficiency. Out of the submissions, what stayed on the jurors’ minds were the powerful and high-quality photos that advanced to later rounds. As for topics, the most dominant were definitely the tornado that hit South Moravia, the Olympics, the crosses on Old Town Square, and the anti-vaccination demonstration attended by soccer hooligans. Working together, we chose the best pictures representing the last twelve months,” states chief juror Petr Mlch.
The international jury was in session on October 17th–19th at the Czech Photo Centre gallery, with the following members: chief juror – Petr Mlch, head of the Czech News Agency’s photo bank; Adrian Evans, director of the Panos Pictures agency, from the UK; Sean Gallup, Getty Images’ head photographer, from Germany; Alžběta Jungrová, a Czech photographer from the 400ASA group, and Jan Zátorský, a Czech photographer for the Mafra media house.
The Photo of the Year will be announced along with the category winners at a gala ceremony held in January at the National Museum. Photos were submitted using an electronic system. Submissions were open to photographers with permanent residence in the Czech Republic or Slovakia.
The Prague Grant is the competition’s second main prize. Its winning photo series is selected by the mayor of Prague at the recommendation of the international jury, which recommends selected series with the highest ratings. This prize went to Petr Vrabec, for his cycle named “Prague’s Periphery.”
Like every year, children from Czech Radio’s children’s choir (Disman Radio Children’s Choir) participated in the jury. This year their clear favorite was a picture by Barbora Reichová from the Czech Olympic Committee depicting swimmer Simona Davidová under the water.
The Nominations for Czech Press Photo 2021. In each of the eight competition categories, the jury awards three category nominations for works that have reached the third voting round.
CURRENT EVENTS
Martin Divíšek, EPA – Hooligan riots against Covid measures
Martin Divíšek, EPA – A tornado has hit the South Moravia region, in the southeast of the Czech Republic.
Petr Topič, Mafra, a.s. – Devastation
REPORTAGE
Lukáš Bíba, Economia – Waves Two and Three
Lukáš Bíba, Economia – 25,000 crosses
Petr Vrabec – Strajk kobiet protests in Warsaw
DAILY LIFE
Jan Cága – Dog beaches
David W Černý, Reuters – One pandemic, one city, one person
David Těšínský – Life and Death in Guatemala
THE PEOPLE THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT
Martin Hykl and Marek Pátek, Blesk – Minister of Health Roman Prymula leaves Rio’s Restaurant in Prague’s Vyšehrad district
Petr David Josek, AP – Johnny Depp at the 55th Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Petr Topič, Mafra, a.s. – Andrej Babiš’s election campaign
ART AND CULTURE
Lukáš Bíba, Economia – The Roads
Lukáš Bíba, Economia – The Crystal Globe—The 20th anniversary of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Milan Bureš, Respekt – Pavel Dias
SPORTS
Michal Sváček, Mafra, a.s. – The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Jaroslav Svoboda – Bikes!
Roman Vondrouš / ČTK – Faithful fans
PORTRAITS
Michal Sváček, Mafra, a.s. – Actor Karel Dobrý
Michael Tomeš, Intro – Jaroslav Róna
Martin Zeman – Jazzmen
HUMANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Michal Fanta – Bird flu
Michal Turek – Ringing of a migratory falcon at the Chempark
Igor Zehl, ČTK – A digital lull
Special Awards:
The Canon Junior Award for young photographers went to Ondřej Deml for his series from the Olympics entitled Olympic Emotions. The Committee of Goodwill – Olga Havel Foundation prize was awarded to Kevin V. Ton for a photo series documenting the fates of Maruška, a homeless women. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) award went to Lenka Klicperová for her photo series from Nagorno-Karabakh. The Czech News Agency’s special scholarship for young photographers 26 and under—to be awarded on-site at the agency—went to Barbora Kvasničková for her Destructive Blazes near Athens series. A prize in cooperation with Samsung went to Martin Veselý from the Mafra media house for his photos from music festivals.
CZECH PHOTO JUNIOR 2021
General partner: Trigema
Partners: Koupelny Ptáček, Cewe eContest, Siko, Renomia, Berlitz, Cobra, Pictoart, Canon, Eizo, Samsung, Laufen, Nielsen, Soliter, NEWTON Media, VDV, UNHCR, Fakulta sociálních věd UK
Main media partners: MAFRA, a. s., a Český rozhlas 1 – Radiožurnál
Media partners: Reflex, ČTK, Rádio DAB Praha, National Geographic, Prima Zoom, Lidé a Země
Press release for download in .pdf