After an intensive judging period, the moment has come to present the winners and finalists of the Rovinj Photodays 2023 competition!

By March 5, 3,200 photos by authors from 28 countries of the world were submitted to this year’s competition.

This year, the selection process was conducted by a six-member jury of prominent experts in their fields of activity:

1. Sabina Salamon, senior curator of the Photographic Collection of MMSU Rijeka – president of the jury (HR)
2. Dino Rekanović, founder of the ROTLICHT festival and manager of the Photon gallery in Vienna (AT)
3. Steffania Rössl, photographer and director of SIFEST (IT)
4. Hrvoje Slovenc, photographer (NY)
5. Massimo Sordi, photographer and director of SIFEST (IT)
6. Ján Viazanička, photographer, teacher, curator and editor-in-chief of the photography magazine dokumentmagazin.sk (SK)

The jury had the task of choosing the finalists and among them the winner of the Grand Prix of the competition, i.e. the overall winner. They are given complete autonomy in the selection process  to decide on the number and composition of the finalists, in order to ensure that the final exhibition really represents the best of the submitted works.

“This year’s Rovinj Photodays festival competition definitely met the high expectations of the hosts. As in previous years, it recorded an increase in the number of submissions, reaching 3,200 photos! In addition to a few faithful followers and already award-winning authors, there is a significantly larger number of new names among the applicants, from countries outside the former Yugoslavia and the broader ring of Southeast Europe, and additionally the finalists of Vienna’s renowned Rotlicht festival, with which the festival recently entered into a partnership. The wide range of submissions, from a total of 28 countries, is also the result of the work of the jury members, who encourage their respective local photography communities to actively participate in international festivals and thus contribute to their visibility and placement. We are confident that this year’s jury selection will contribute to the further positioning of the Rovinj Photodays festival on the map of internationally relevant photo festivals.” said Sabina Salamon, president of the jury.

This year, three authors from the Netherlands, three authors from Slovakia, two authors from Germany, two authors from Italy and one author each from Austria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Russia and Ukraine were among the finalists.

The exhibition of the works of these 18 authors will be the focal point of the festival, which will be held on May 5 and 6 in Rovinj, while the Grand Prix of the festival will be announced at the festival finale on May 6 at the Island Hotel Istra! We are also continuing our cooperation with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, which includes the autumn exhibition of the finalists and their inclusion in the Photography Collection of MMSU Rijeka.

PRIZES AND RECOGNITIONS:

1. Presentation of all the works of the finalists, with corresponding artist statements, on the official website
2. Presentation of the selected works of the finalists at a joint exhibition during the festival in Rovinj and at the end of 2023 at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka
3. All nominated works from the final exhibition of finalists remain in the museum’s permanent collection, in digital form
4. All winners and finalists of the final exhibition receive written diplomas / awards
5. All finalists are entitled to the official catalog of the final exhibition in digital form
6. All category winners receive free half-board accommodation at Island Hotel Istra on the island of St. Andrew for two people in Rovinj at the festival finale in May 2023.

GRAND PRIX 2023.

1. Cash prize of 2,000 Euros
2. Solo exhibition, with accompanying catalog, at the festival finale in May 2024 in Rovinj
3. Free half-board accommodation at the Island Hotel Istra on the island of St. Andrew during the festival in Rovinj in 2023.
4. A solo exhibition with an accompanying catalog at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka during the fall of 2023.
5. Special positioning in the museum fund, where the work remains under the care of the curators in digital or printed form
6. Recognition: Grand Prix Photodays 2023

FINALISTS:

BODY/NUDE
1. Milan Gies (NL)
2. Artem Humilevskyi (UA)
3. Patrick Hudepohl (NL)

ARCHITECTURE
1. Mikhail Lebedev & Ivan Druzhinin (RU)
2. Mara Novak (AT)
3. Jana Dillo (DE)

DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
1. Eva Vei (GR)
2. Katerina Churbakova (CY)
3. Pierpaolo Mittica (IT)

FASHION
1. Karina Golisová (SK)
2. Senja Vild (HR)
3. Urška Pečnik (SI)

LANDSCAPE
1. Michaela Nagyidaiová (SK)
2. Bartolomeo Rossi (IT)
3. Jenni Haili (FI)

PORTRAIT
1. Sarah Mei Herman (NL)
2. Jana Gombiková (SK)
3. Thomas Bachler (DE)