Dear friends of photography,

after an intensive deliberating period, the time has come to present the winners and finalists of the Rovinj Photodays 2022 competition. By February 25, 2,700 photographs from 12 countries have been submitted to this year’s competition.

This year, the jury was conducted by a six-member jury of prominent experts in their fields:
1. Dejan Sluga, Program Director of the Photon Center for Contemporary Photography – President of the Jury (SLO)
2. Una Popović, Senior Curator of the Collection of Photography, Film, Video and Digital Media, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade (RS)
3. Steffania Rössl, photographer and director of SIFEST (IT)
4. Sabina Salamon, senior curator of the MMSU Rijeka Photo Collection (HR)
5. Hrvoje Slovenc, photographer (NY)
6. Massimo Sordi, photographer and director of SIFEST (IT)

The jury had the task of selecting the finalists of the competition and among them the winner of the Grand Prix, ie the overall winner of the competition. In the judging process, they were given complete autonomy to decide on the number and composition of the finalists, to ensure that the final exhibition of the finalists is really the best of the submitted works.

“This year, once again, a significant number of photographers submitted their work to the Rovinj Photodays competition, but in terms of quantity and quality, submissions from Italy really stood out this year.
Both amateur and professional photographers joined the competition, mostly from the region of Southeast Europe. In the series we’ve seen, the authors mostly discuss and present current topics specific to these areas. Each submission, as well as the selection of finalists, therefore, offers an insight into the latest, current productions in the field of contemporary photography in this area.
In each category, we selected three works for the main festival exhibition, which show quality and originality, both in the formal approach and in the choice of themes. The Grand Prix will be announced at the festival finale, as the best in all categories, especially considering the author’s approach as the basic criteria.” – said Dejan Sluga, president of the jury.

Among the finalists this year, there were 7 authors from Croatia, 8 from Italy (including a duo!) and one author from Poland, Slovenia, and Serbia each. The exhibition of works by these 18 authors will be the focal point of events at the festival, which will take place from May 6th to May 8th in Rovinj.

After a two-year break, caused by the situation in the world, the festival returns to Rovinj with a program filled with significant exhibitions, attractive presentations, lectures and workshops, a big prize photo challenge and an entertainment program!

We are also continuing our cooperation with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, which includes the autumn exhibition of finalists and their inclusion in the Collection of Photography MMSU Rijeka.

FINALISTS PRIZES:
1. Presentation of all the works of the finalists with the corresponding statements of the authors on the official website
2. Presentation of the selected finalists works at the joint exhibition during the festival in Rovinj, and at the end of October 2022, at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka
3. All nominated works from the final exhibition of the finalists in printed or digital form remain in the permanent holdings of the museum
4. All finalists get an official catalog of the final exhibition in a printed or digital form
5. All winners in every category will receive free accommodation on a half board basis in the Island hotel Istra for two people in Rovinj at the festival in May 2022.
6. After the selection the jury president will choose one winning work to be exhibited at the Photon Gallery in Vienna

GRAND PRIX 2022.
1. Cash prize of 2,000 Euros
2. Solo exhibition with the accompanying catalog at the end of the festival in May 2023 in Rovinj
3. Free accommodation on a half board basis in the Island hotel Istra during the 2022 and 2023 festival editions
4. Solo exhibition with the accompanying catalog in the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka during the autumn of 2023
5. Special positioning in the museum’s holdings where the work remains in care of the curators in digital or printed form (author’s choice)
6. The Grand Prix Photodays 2022 written plaque

FINALISTS:
NUDE/BODY
1. Alessio Paduano
2. Blaž Stantič Kobal
3. Adriano Cascio

ARCHITECTURE
1. Domagoj Burilović
2. Arek Nizinski
3. Tomislav Marcijuš

DOCUMENTARY
1. Francesco Rucci i Francesco Marinelli
2. Alessio Paduano
3. Matej Jurčević

FASHION
1. Rebeka Legović
2. Antonija Butković
3. Marina Bender

LANDSCAPE
1. Pietro Milenotti
2. Francesca Spedalieri
3. Marialuisa Cortesi

PORTAIT
1. Katarina Marković
2. Marco Castelli
3. Ivan Tomašević