Press Photography annual exhibition was opened and the winners of photo and video awards were announced

Friday, on February 17 the Estonian Association of Press Photographers in cooperation with the Estonian Association of Media Enterprises, Canon and Overall opened in Viru Keskus in Tallinn the traditional exhibition of press photos featuring the best photographs of 2022. They also announced the winners of photo and video awards, and presented the freshly released yearbook “Eesti Pressifoto 2023”.

The winner of the best news photo title is Dmitri Kotjuh, photo-reporter of Postimees, with his photo “Dark day”. “Please say when will it end? When will it end that our children must die?” asked the parents of 11 years old Anastassija who was killed in an air raid. From the beginning of the war hundreds of Ukrainian children have been killed in Russian bombings and rocket attacks, youngest of them only a few months old. According to official records at least 429 children have been killed in the war by the end of December 2022. The photograph shows the funeral of Anastassija, who was killed when the house of her family in Kharkiv was hit by a Russian air defence rocket S-300.”

The award for the best feature photograph went to Mihkel Maripuu of Postimees for his photograph “Last day of races on the Tallinn horse-racing courses”. Tallinn horse-racing courses recently celebrated its 99th anniversary. There were last races before it will be turned into an area for commercial buildings. The next races will be held on the new horse-racing courses in Saue municipality.”

The title of the best sports photograph went to Kiur Kaasik, photo-reporter of Delfi Meedia, for his photograph “Win with the blue-black-white flag”. Kaia Kanepi won Jelena Ostapenko representing our southern neighbouring country in the first round of the WTA tournament at home in Tallinn and the racket turned into the Estonian flag when shot with a long exposure time.

The award for the best portrait photo went to Andras Kralla of Äripäev for his photo “Refugees”. Svitlana, Yuliia and Taisa escaped the war in the Ukraine to Estonia and were employed as maids by the Swissôtel Tallinn hotel.” Andras Kalla won the 2022 Press Photography award as well with the same photo.

The images of the nominees and winners can be found here.

The winner of each category will receive a diploma and the award of €1,000 (net). The author of 2022 Press Photography will also receive an additional award of €1,000 (net).

Today they also announced the winner of the press video competition. The award for the 2022 best press video went to Aleksander Algo, Andrei Jakubovitš and Daniel Leevik for the Delfi Meedia video “Straight to war from jobs portal” when Delfi investigated the running of the Russian recruitment campaign. Delfi TV investigated how the Russian army is recruiting reinforcements from jobs portals and found that it is easier than expected to get to the frontlines.

For the nominees of the category and the winning video look here.

The winner of the Press Video of the Year title will receive a diploma and the award of €1,000 (net).

The traditional exhibition of Estonian Press Photo was opened in Viru Keskus in Tallinn until 2nd of March. From the beginning of March the best press photos can be viewed in Tartu, Narva, Pärnu, Rakvere, Jõhvi and elsewhere in Estonia.

The president of the Press Photo jury was Priit Hõbemägi, editor-in-chief of Postimees. Photo journalists Raul Mee and journalist Mari Mets were assessing the photos from the Estonian side. International jury members were this time Ieva Budzeikaitė, photographer of Lithuanian armed forces, and freelance sports photographer Mikus Klavins from Latvia.

The press video jury assessed the videos in the middle of January. The president of the jury was Ester Vaitmaa, creative manager of Delfi Meedia, and the jury members were Madis Kimmel, editor-in-chief of Kuku, and Kristjan Madalvee, freelance videographer.

On February 17 there was also a book presentation “Eesti Pressifoto 2023” that was published as an online book as well. According to the compiler of the book Eero Vabamägi the book provides a more comprehensive view of the most important events in Estonia last year. A limited number of prints of the book “Estonian Press Photography 2023” is also available through the website of the Estonian Association of Press Photographers. The online book is available for viewing at epfl.ee.

The cooperation partners of the Estonian Association of Press Photographers in organising the 2022 Press Photography and 2022 Press Video competition are Estonian Association of Media Enterprises, Canon and Overall Eesti.

Photos from exhibition opening Marek Metslaid.