World Press Photo International Prize Canceled Invitations to a Russian Rewards

The organizers stated that they would not cancel the Russian award

Photo: Mikhail Tereshchenko/World Press Photo

The World Press Photo-2025 International Prize withdrew invitations to the Russian Mikhail Tereshchenko award ceremony. Earlier a photographer from Russian State TASS news agency received the award For a picture anti -government protests in Georgia.

Organizers explained On the site of the competition, its solution is the growth of « tensions on the European continent ».

The organizers called the « unpleasant fact » awards for coverage of protests in Georgia of the Russian working for the Russian propaganda agency.

World Press Photo also stated that the jury has limited information about competitors, which is usually limited to nationality and article. In doing so, the judges do not know the names of photographers and their place of work.

At the same time, Mikhail Tereshchenko’s work meet the competition evaluation criteria and was authentic.

The award reported that they would try to improve the rules and procedures for the selection of participants.

The Executive Director of the Juman El Zayne Khuri competition said World Press Photo will not cancel the Russian award in order not to neglect the established rules.

« We will work on improving our rules and procedures, but must always be used honestly and without exception. Our competition has global coverage, and its rules should be applicable to very different contexts. Any change of rule to display one particular context will also have consequences for completely different ”– added the director of the competition Juman El Zane Khuri.

The organizers of the award noted that they did not agree with the phrase « liberation of Mariupol », which Russian Mikhail Tereshchenko used in an interview in March 2025. They acknowledged that part of the territory of Ukraine was occupied by the Russian Federation, including Mariupol.

« Although the Russian government and TASS deny some of these statements we consider them simple facts »– added to World Press Photo.

We will remind, this year the jury of the competition World Press Photo Among the regional winners Elected two Russians and Belarusian.

This decision was condemned by the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPS), which was called for compliance with the standards of ethics, impartiality and transparency. The UAPF stated that the awarding of Russian photographers, who express the position of Russian state ideology, contributes to the sympathy of the aggressor.

In addition, the award visually combined two works. One of them depicts a six-year-old Ukrainian who suffers from panic attacks after escape from shelling. The other shows a wounded military « DNR », who fought on the side of Russia.

After criticism of the jury publicly apologized For this decision, he found that such a combination created a « too simplified and false equality. »