The Facebook-based contest and reality show was aimed to encourage young photographers in Eastern Partnership countries and was conducted within the EU-funded project “SAY CHEESE!”. For two months, contestants from six countries had been challenged to show off their skills in producing interesting photos on a given topic before a set deadline, as well as promoting their works among their Facebook fans and even other contestants.  

In the first three challenges, contestants’ works were judged by Facebook users, and in the last challenge, which was dedicated to “Changes”, there was a twist: the participants themselves were given a right to cast a deciding vote on the results. After the four challenges, six winners were identified, one from each participating country. Grand Prix – a Canon 6D photo camera from the Centre of Cultural Events of Tbilisi City Hall – will be given to a Georgian winner Mindia Charkseliani. Winner from Armenia Arman Harutyunyan, who came in second and only a little behind the Grand Prix winner, will receive a personal website developed by GDesign (Armenia). Roman Rybaleov from Moldova will be awarded with VelbonCX photo tripod and photo bag from GVN (Armenia), while Rashad Mehdiyev from Azerbaijan will receive a Midland portable video camera and two portable radio sets from Skylink (Georgia). Andrew Porgrebnoy, who came in first in Ukraine, will receive a Manfrotto BeFree Compact Travel Photo Tripod from Azerbaijan Photographers Union, while Belarusian winner Ruslan Glushenko will be awarded with a Lowerpro photo backpack from Amadeus Travel Lufthansa City Center (Moldova).

Also, 15 participants from each Eastern Partnership country will be awarded with certificates for a free pilot course of the new Eastern Partnership online photo school, which will open this March at http://photo-school.eu. Photo-school.eu will feature photo courses of several difficulty levels, run by teachers from all six countries, as well as customized modules and online master classes. Upon finishing the course, the graduates will receive a common certificate that will be acknowledged by associations of photographers from all Eastern Partnership countries.

As noted by many Photoman participants, the contest was a great opportunity to get to know photographers from other countries, create artistic bonds, and even find new friends. While waiting for the results, the contestants discussed each other’s works, shared photography tips, told jokes and even composed a common poem. Belarusian participant Ruslan Glushenko, who initiated most of these activities, was declared “The Soul of Photoman” for his outstanding openness and willingness to unite all contestants. Ruslan will receive a special prize from Riftur (Belarus): he will spend a photo weekend in one of Belarusian national parks, accompanied by an individual master class on landscape and wildlife photography from Head of Belarusian public association “Photoiksusstvo” Siarhei Plytkevich.

Award ceremony for Georgian winners of “Photoman-2013” will take place on 4 February 2014 in the Hookah Lounge club in Tbilisi, while Belarusian winners are invited to an award ceremony that will be held on 14 February 2014 in Mikhail Savitsky Gallery in Minsk, at the same time when exhibition “Steps” by BPA “Photoiskusstvo” will be opened. Award ceremonies for Armenian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian, and Moldovan winners will be announced shortly.

You can see all contest works on topics “My world” (1^st challenge), “Hustle and bustle before the New Year” (2^nd challenge), “Streets are full of unexpected things” (3^rd challenge), “Changes” (4^th challenge) at https://apps.facebook.com/photomann/.

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