The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers opposes the participation of Russian Maria Gelman in the jury of the competition World Press Photo 2024.
Gelman is among the five members of the European team of judges who will evaluate Ukrainian photographers. The jury also includes: Anastasia Taylor-Lind, chairman of this year's jury, UK/Sweden; Andreas Trampe, Germany, senior photo editor at Stern; Gilles Steinman, Switzerland, director; Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Mariam Atta, UK, curator.
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers appeals to the competition management with an urgent demand to change the composition of the jury and exclude the representative of the Russian Federation from its ranks. UAPP considers Gelman's participation to be illogical and may affect the objectivity of decision-making when evaluating the participants' works. In addition, Russia's unprovoked, aggressive, cruel and unjust war against Ukraine has been going on for the 10 years in a row, and we believe that the participation of the representative of the Russian Federation, Maria Gelman, raises a lot of ethical issues.
The annual World Press Photo Contest is open to all professional photographers working in the field of photojournalism and documentary. Applications for the World Press Photo Contest 2024 are now closed. Regional winners will be announced on April 3.
Last year, the World Press Photo Contest 2023 was won in the Photo of the Year category by Ukrainian photographer Yevhen Malolietka, a member of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, for his photos from besieged Mariupol.
In last year's competition, one of the jury members was Kateryna Radchenko, founder of the Odesa photo days festival, photographer, and curator.