PETR MLCH, Chair of the Jury, Editor-in-Chief of the ČTK Photobank, CZECH REPUBLIC
In 1999, while in fifth year in the Faculty of Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague, he began to work in the Czech News Agency (ČTK), in what was then the visual news editorial office. Until 2006, he worked in the agency as the editor of visual news at the so-called newsdesk, after which, as the deputy editor-in-chief, he devoted himself to projects aimed at speeding up and improving photographic news production, including the building of a new ČTK photo bank online portal. In 2008, he became editor-in-chief of the Visual News Editorial Office, and in 2009 editor-in-chief of ČTK Photo Bank.
In addition to looking after the ČTK photo archive, he mediated collaboration with a number of domestic and foreign partners, including the exclusive partner Associated Press. Under his leadership, ČTK Photo Bank also began to focus on new projects, such as exhibitions, book publication, photo editing and custom photography.
He is the co-author of ČTK photographic exhibitions on Václav Havel (2012), in particular the outdoor travelling exhibitions Moments of the Century (2018), Moments of the Velvet Revolution (2019), Unwanted Moments (2020) and Olympic Moments (2021), which can be seen throughout the year all over the republic.
In the last few years, he has also devoted himself to projects relating to the monitoring of use and tracking of misuse of photos.
ADRIAN EVANS, Director of Panos Pictures, UNITED KINGDOM
Adrian Evans was born in the United Kingdom. He studied art history at the University of York. He worked for three years as a freelance graphic artist and then began working with photography at the archives of the Hutchison agency. In 1990 he became the director of Panos Pictures, and seven years later, he purchased a majority share in the agency. Under his leadership, Panos Pictures has become a major agency specialized in socially engaged photojournalism. Adrian Evans is the author of a number of major photo projects, with topics ranging from professional cycling in Belgium to modern-day slavery in Britain. He is also a jury member for many contests, including World Press Photo, China International Press Photo Contest, Russia’s Press Photo, and the Czech Republic’s Czech Press Photo. Meanwhile, he is a visual communication consultant for non-governmental organizations, and provides lectures on this same topic at the London College of Communication, University of Westminster, and London School of Economics.
DANA KYNDROVÁ, documentary photographer, CZECH REPUBLIC
Dana Kyndrová (1955, Prague) is a Czech documentary photographer known for her black-and-white humanist photography. She graduated in French and Russian from the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (1979), and worked as a language lecturer at the Czech Technical University and later at the Academy of Performing Arts. Since 1992, she has been a freelance photographer based in Prague. Her work has been exhibited widely in the Czech Republic and abroad, and she has published eight monographs, including Woman – Between Inhalation and Exhalation (2002), The Withdrawal of Soviet Troops from Czechoslovakia (2003), and Russians… Their Icons and Desires (2015). She has received numerous awards, among them seven Czech Press Photo prizes (1995–1999), the national Fujifilm Euro Press Photo Award (1998), and the Prague City Grant (2006). In addition to her photographic work, she is active as a curator and author of publications on Czech history and photography. In 2008, she was named Personality of Czech Photography by the Association of Czech Professional Photographers.
MICHAL RŮŽIČKA, Photographer and Head of the Photography Department at MAFRA, CZECH REPUBLIC
Michal Růžička is a long-standing Czech photojournalist and Head of the Photography Department at the MAFRA media group. He has worked for MAFRA since 1990, photographing for MF DNES, Lidové noviny, Téma, iDNES.cz and Lidovky.cz. Since 2002, he has headed the photography department. His work focuses mainly on news, documentary and sports photography. He has photographed a number of major world events, including the war in Yugoslavia, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Kurdish exodus following the Gulf War, and the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. He has also long documented major sporting events, including FIFA World Cups, UEFA European Championships and the Olympic Games. He has received numerous awards in photography competitions. In the Czech Press Photo 2019 competition, he won 1st place in the Everyday Life category for his photograph “Rain in Prague at Anděl”, capturing a tram driver during a heavy rainstorm. In 2022, he received the Photo of the Month award for his photograph of Ukrainian refugees at Prague’s Main Railway Station. In 2024, the Czech Press Photo jury awarded his sports photograph “Celebrations of the World Champions” the Photo of the Month title, and in 2025 he also received the Viewers’ Award of the Czech Press Photo 2024 exhibition for the same photograph.
EMILIO MORENATTI,Photojournalist and Chief Photographer for The Associated Press in Spain and Portugal, SPAIN
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Emilio Morenatti - With a career spanning more than three decades, Emilio Morenatti has reported from over 60 countries, documenting many of the defining events of our time. He has spent extended assignments in conflict zones including Afghanistan, the Palestinian territories and Gaza, Israel, Pakistan and Ukraine. His work has earned two Pulitzer Prizes. In 2021, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for an intimate series portraying the lives of elderly Spaniards during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, he was awarded a second Pulitzer, for Breaking News Photography, for documenting the human toll of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2009 for his coverage of the war in Afghanistan, where he lost a leg in an attack. He continued working in the field, an experience he says has deepened his empathy for the people he photographs. Morenatti's photography has received numerous other international honors, including three World Press Photo awards, three Pictures of the Year International (POYi) Photographer of the Year awards, two National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Photographer of the Year awards, six National Headliner Awards, the Oliver S. Gramling Journalism Award, the Clarion Award for International Feature Photography, and recognition from the Overseas Press Club, among many others. Morenatti holds a master’s degree in photojournalism and documentary photography from the University of the Arts London. He currently leads the photography department for the Associated Press in Spain and Portugal, shaping powerful visual narratives that resonate globally.