artkoko portrait awards 2026

Editors' choice

Whats is it «Editors' choice»

The ARTKOKO editorial team constantly reviews all submissions and selects the best works. To participate, you need to upload your photo or several photos according to the rules.

The regular editorial picks are published in the contest gallery and on our social media pages.

This is a great opportunity for every participant to showcase themselves already during the submission period.

Important: being included in the “Editor’s Choice” is not the same as winning the contest.

Cost of participation

Photo requirements

Registration of authors and works takes place on the contest website lk.artkoko.ru in the designated section, using a specially provided form.

Image format — JPEG, color model RGB.
Dimensions — at least 1500 pixels on the longer side.
Attention: upload works with high original resolution, as they may be used for printing at the exhibition.
Low-resolution works may be disqualified.

Year of shooting — photos submitted for the main annual photo award must have been taken in 2022, 2023, 2024, or 2025. There are no year restrictions for other thematic contests.

On photographs (unless otherwise stated on the website for a specific contest), the following is allowed:
• Technical retouching, including exposure, contrast, saturation, sharpness adjustments, conversion to black and white, white balance correction, as well as correction to remove accidentally captured objects;
• Cropping (without increasing image size);
• Scanning images obtained by classic chemical methods;
• Creating HDR files, exposure bracketing, focus stacking, panorama stitching;
• Collage;
• Use of AI, but not exceeding 50% of the total image content.
The following are not allowed on photographs (unless otherwise stated on the website for a specific contest):
• Works must not have any author watermarks, signature marks, added frames, etc.
Additionally, jury members and the Organizer may reject works if:
• The description contains profanity;
• The photo or its caption contains obscene content, explicit scenes, inscriptions, or symbols;
• The photo is repulsive (dark, scary, depicts violence, mutilation, etc.);
• The photo violates the rights of minors;
• The photo contains images or descriptions of violence or inhumane treatment of animals, or there is reason to believe it was made through cruel or unethical methods toward animals;
• The photo includes images or descriptions of suicide methods or encourages suicide;
• The photo promotes or incites religious, national, or ethnic hatred or hostility, or promotes racial superiority ideology;
• The photo advertises or glamorizes drug use, alcohol, or cigarettes;
• The photo promotes negative attitudes toward health, healthy lifestyles, religion, sports, or physical culture;
• The photo is unacceptable under the laws of the Russian Federation (content rated 18+, nudity, violence, political or offensive material, LGBT propaganda, etc.).

Original works
If a work reaches the final stage, the author must upload a maximum resolution JPG file in Adobe RGB format on the site. The uploaded file must look exactly like the version submitted for the contest (already processed), preferably retaining the EXIF data. The Organizer also has the right to request the original unedited camera file from the author if there are questions regarding the work. The deadline for file submission is 10 days after voting ends. Notifications to upload files are sent by email or by a message on the participant’s personal page. After receiving this notification, the author must provide the files via a special form.

Cropping of the submitted file must be the same as in the web version submitted for the contest and evaluated by the experts and jury.

Detailed requirements are available here — artkoko.ru/rules/

We invite professional gallery owners and famous photographers to cooperate!

We are looking for talented and recognized experts in the field of art and photography to strengthen our team and contribute to the development of the award. If you are a professional with a unique perspective on art, rich experience and recognition in your field, we will be glad to consider your candidacy.

Why exactly do our award need you?
— Your experience and reputation will help strengthen the award's status in the art world.
— Your creativity and professional approach will inspire the participants and the audience.
— Your participation will be an important step towards creating unique projects and exhibitions.If you are ready to become a part of our team and contribute to the development of art, please send your suggestions and portfolio by email. mail@artkoko.ru .

We are waiting for your feedback and ideas!

Жюри

Член жюри

Alexander Shaburov is an artist, writer, and director, and a faculty member in the Contemporary Art program at the HSE Art and Design School.
He is a member of the art collective The Blue Noses. The group’s works are held in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Ludwig Museum (Cologne), and other collections.

He is a laureate and winner of several professional awards, including the Grand Prix of the Media Forum at the Moscow International Film Festival (2003); the “Soratnik” and “Black Square” awards (2006); the Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Award and the All-Russian P. P. Bazhov Literary Prize (2016). He was the host of the Kandinsky Prize (2007, 2008).

He has participated in Russian and international contemporary art biennales, including the Venice, Moscow, Ural, Istanbul, and Prague biennales.

He is the author of books and publications such as The Adventures of the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes in Russian Translations and Transformations (1991), Who’s Who in Contemporary Art of Yekaterinburg (1998), Siberian Ironic Conceptualism (2014), Second-Hand Art: Self-Exposure of Contemporary Art (2014), among others. His work has appeared in Interview, L’Officiel, Playboy, Itogi, Art Journal, and other publications. He served as art editor for 20 newspapers and magazines (1993–2002).

He is the art director and organizer of exhibition projects and festivals, including Bazhov-Fest (since 2018), The New Museum Souvenir (2012), Museum Retreat, and the Council of Europe cultural route Sites of Great Battles (2021). He is the founder of the Ural Sherlockian Society and the author of the Invisible Man monument in Yekaterinburg..

Alexander Shaburov

Член жюри

Co-founder of Yellowkorner Russia.
Graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics (INZHEKON) in 2006.

In 2013, she opened the first international Yellowkorner photography gallery in St. Petersburg and completed professional training at Yellowkorner Paris the same year.
In 2019, she launched Yellowkorner in Moscow.

From 2013 to 2023, she developed the gallery business and promoted international photographers in the Russian market.
In 2022–2023, she engaged in curatorial work.

In 2023, she took part in a panel discussion at the 1703 St. Petersburg Art Fair at Manege, “Photography: History and Collections.”

In 2023–2024, she opened the Reportage gallery dedicated to Russian photography.

Maria Ort

Член жюри

Born in 1954 in Nizhny Tagil. He began working professionally in photography in 1981 as a photo technician at the Uzbek branch of TASS. From 1983, he worked as a photojournalist for the magazine Art of Soviet Uzbekistan. Since 1989, he has been active as an independent photographer.

A member of the Union of Journalists of Russia since 1983 and the Union of Photographic Artists of Russia since 1999.

He is a laureate and winner of numerous professional competitions, including the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region Award for “Best Project of the Year” (2004) and the Novosibirsk Philharmonic’s “Golden Key” Award (2006). He received first prizes at the International Photo Salon (Novosibirsk, 2004) and the International Biennale (Surgut, 2005), as well as second prize at the International Biennale (Nizhny Novgorod, 2004). In 2013, he received the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region’s “Litera” Award for his contributions to the development of the media.

He has participated in Russian and international exhibitions, including the Russian photography project “Where the Motherland Begins” (2014). His solo anniversary exhibition Comprehension was successfully shown in Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Barnaul, and Tomsk (2014).

He is the author of major photographic projects, including: documentation of the ecological catastrophe of the Aral Sea and the lives of people affected by the Semipalatinsk Test Site (late 1980s); participation in the photo expedition People on the Borders (2002); photographic research on the practices of Tuvan and Khakas shamans; the project Inhabitants (2005, supported by a grant from the Surgut Art Museum); and the project Here Is My Village (2003–2005), which formed the basis of the photo album Novosibirsk Region (2004). He is currently working on a project titled The Shepherds.

He has worked as a photojournalist for several Novosibirsk newspapers, head of the photo department at the Satren publishing house (Egoist, Gorozhanka magazines), and director of a photo agency at the company Fotoland. He is the founder and head of his own Visual Solutions Studio.

Vladimir Dubrovskiy

Член жюри

Anastasia Rudenko was born in 1982 in Southern Kazakhstan and moved to Russia with her family at the age of 12. She holds a degree in mathematics and has been working professionally in photography since 2008. In 2012, she graduated from the Rodchenko School of Photography and Multimedia.

She is a member of international photographic organizations and a laureate of numerous international competitions: winner of the Canon Female Photojournalist Award (2015), recipient of the Persephone Miel Fellowship (2017), winner of the PhotoPhilanthropy Activist Awards (2010), and finalist for the Magnum Expression Award (2011). She is a two-time recipient of the Russian State Award for Outstanding Cultural Figures (2015, 2020). In 2025, she became the winner of the competition Heritage and Innovation: A Dialogue Between Analog and Digital Photography.

She has taken part in Russian and international exhibitions. Her work has been featured in the British Journal of Photography, PDN, 6Mois, Russian Reporter, and other leading media. She is the author of the photo books Next Door: 12 Photo Essays from Russia (2014) and Siberia Through the Eyes of Russian Photographers.

She lives and works in Vologda.

Anastasia Rudenko

Член жюри

Evgeny Lvovich Ivanov was born in 1958 in Novosibirsk and has been working professionally in photography since 1977.
Since 1987, he has been a staff photographer at the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. He became a member of the Union of Photographic Artists of Russia in 1999. In 1991, he graduated from the Leningrad Regional College of Culture.

He is a laureate and winner of more than 25 international and national competitions, as well as a recipient of the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region’s Award in the field of culture and the arts. He has taken part in more than 230 solo and group photography exhibitions in cities across Russia and abroad, including France, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Kazakhstan, China, and others. He has participated in the Triennial of Contemporary Russian Art (Garage Museum of Contemporary Art), the Moscow and Krasnoyarsk Biennales of Contemporary Art, the Novosibirsk Graphic Arts Triennial, the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Khanty-Mansiysk, and the Contemporary Photography Photo Biennale (Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

His works are held in the State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), the Russian Museum (St. Petersburg), and various other public and private collections in Russia and abroad. Since 1998, he has actively collaborated with contemporary artists in Novosibirsk as a photographer. In 1999, he took part in the art action Shelter Beyond the Time, where the art group The Blue Noses was formed.

Since then, he has been actively collaborating with The Blue Noses as both a photographer and a model.
He is an organizer and curator of photography exhibitions at the Siberian branch of the ROSIZO–NCCA.
He also teaches photography and currently serves as the head of the Novosibirsk regional branch of the Union of Photographic Artists of Russia, as well as a board member of the Union.

Evgeny Lvovich

Член жюри

Education: Sinologist and art historian:
NSU, 同济大学 in Shanghai.

Former assistant at the Shanghai contemporary art space
Studio Gallery 工作室画廊 where she was involved in exhibition organization, artist interviews, documentation, gallery promotion, and managing the art residency.

For more than four years, she has been promoting brands on the Chinese market, as well as supporting artists entering the Chinese art scene.

Lecturer and guest speaker for projects such as:
Dao-Exporter, Asia Pacific, VISUAL CONCEPT, ArtWeek, and others.

She runs her own column on Chinese art for FRSTV artgroup and organizes art events.

https://artchinamarketing.ru/

TG channel

Anna Lyashchenko

Член жюри

Artist, photographer, curator, gallerist, and founder of the PhotoTOP project.

His works have been exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Chelsea Museum of Contemporary Art (NY, USA), and other museums and galleries in Russia and abroad. He has also taken part in contemporary art fairs.

His photographic works are held in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum of Photography (Nizhny Novgorod), and other museums.

He is currently actively exhibiting, teaching, and curating several Moscow galleries.

Oleg Arnautov

Член жюри

An award-winning photojournalist and artist working with contemporary photography and visual research.

She has 15 years of experience in photography and international journalism.
Has worked in 27 countries as a contributor for National Geographic, Time, ELLE, The Washington Post, Kommersant, and others.
She began her career as a conflict photographer, documenting social dynamics in unrecognized territories and post-conflict regions.

The Guardian and the Magnum photo agency included Olga in their list of “30 contemporary photographers whose work you need to see.”

Her photographs are exhibited worldwide and held in museum collections and private archives.

Founder and instructor of the school Art of Seeing, with more than 2,000 students.
Guest lecturer at Lomonosov Moscow State University, IGUMO, and the British Higher School of Art and Design.

Recipient of international awards from the Lucie Foundation Award, Paris Photo, Les Rencontres d'Arles, the Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Prize, The Aftermath Project Foundation, and others.
Member of the International Federation of Journalists, the Russian Union of Journalists, and the Union of Photographic Artists.

* Previously published under the artistic name Olga Ingurazova.

http://www.ingurazia.com/

Olga Smirnova

Член жюри

Founder of the art project REVERberation.
Exhibition organizer and curator since 2017.
Academician of the International Academy of Culture and Art, corresponding member of the International Academy of Contemporary Arts, member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia and the International Federation of Artists, and member of the National Association of Photography Industry Professionals.

He is a laureate of Russian and international competitions and has received state and public awards in the field of culture and the arts.

He has taken part in major art projects of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, including ARS LONGA, Red Gates. Against the Current, and Art Today, held with the support of the Russian Academy of Arts and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Evgeny’s works have been repeatedly published in Russian and international media and are held in museum and private collections in Russia and abroad.

Evgeny Zhilyaev

Член жюри

Founder of the art project REVERberation.
Exhibition organizer and curator since 2017.
Corresponding member of the International Academy of Culture and Art; corresponding member of the International Academy of Contemporary Arts; member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia and the International Federation of Artists; art historian; board member of the Donbass Art Historians Association.

She has received state and public awards in the field of culture and the arts.

Participant in major art projects of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, including ARS LONGA, Red Gates. Against the Current, and Art Today, supported by the Russian Academy of Arts and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Elena’s works are held in museum and private collections in Russia and abroad.

Elena Matyushina

Член жюри

Visual artist, photographer, producer of photographic projects, founder and director of Photographer.Ru (1999), head of Portfolio.Photographer.Ru, and one of the key figures in the development of contemporary Russian photography.

Born in 1959 in Perm. He has been working professionally in photography since 1978. In 1986, he moved to Moscow, where he collaborated as a photographer with Mosfilm Studios, the School of Dramatic Art Theatre, Teatralnaya Zhizn magazine, and the Stas Namin Centre, while simultaneously developing his own artistic projects.

He entered the international art scene in 1989 with his solo exhibition Adam’s Head at the Les Rencontres d'Arles festival (Arles, France). That same year, he took part in the anniversary exhibition 150 Years of Photography at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow. In 1990, he became a laureate of the Award for Young European Photographers in Berlin.

Since then, he has actively participated in exhibitions across Russia, Europe, the United States, and Asia.
Major exhibition projects include:
– Moscow: From Rodchenko to the Present, Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2000)
– Hooligans of the ’80s, Multimedia Art Museum (2009)
– GLASNOST: Soviet Nonconformist Art of the 1980s, Haunch of Venison, London (2010)
– Contemporary Russian Photography / Perestroika, FotoFest, Houston, USA (2012)
– Girls of the ’80s, Yeltsin Center, Yekaterinburg (2020)
– A Gift to the Museum. In Memory of Yuri Rybchinsky, Multimedia Art Museum (2024)

His works have also been shown at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art, Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, and numerous other institutions.

In recent years, he has collaborated with the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, where major theatre–photography projects have been realized:
– Octavia. Trepanation (2018)
– Katabasis. The Possessed (2021)
– Echo of the Underground (2024)

His works are held in museum and private collections, including:
Moscow House of Photography; Moscow Museum of Modern Art; PERMM Museum of Contemporary Art; Perm State Art Gallery; Yakut Gallery Collection (Moscow); Musée de l’Elysée (Lausanne, Switzerland); Museum of Photography (Aarhus, Denmark); Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas (Austin, USA); National Library (Paris, France); Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago, USA); New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe, USA).

Andrey Bezukladnikov

Член жюри

Alena Falevich was born on July 1, 1987, in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR. She received her professional photography education at the Viktor Khmel and Elena Sukhoveeva Photography School, where from 2011 to 2014 she completed courses in the fundamentals of photography, composition, photo essays, conceptual photography, and the language of contemporary art. She attended ambrotype workshops at the European Collodion Weekend (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and seminars on noble printing processes, conservation, and print restoration in MacCagno, Italy. In 2020, she completed an art history course at the Higher School of Economics.

She is a laureate and prizewinner of international competitions, including first place in the Portrait category (2017) and second place in the Photoseries category (2016) at the Theatre Photography Festival.

She has participated in both Russian and international exhibitions. Her solo shows have been held in Krasnodar (“Silence,” 2015; “The Thunderbolt,” 2015; “Vineyards and Wind,” 2016; “One Blood,” 2017; “Orchestra,” 2019), as well as in Italy (Orvieto, Barletta) as part of the FIOF festival. She has also taken part in group exhibitions at the Theatre Photography Festival (Krasnodar) and the Creative Industries Festival “Made in Siberia” (2024).

Since 2014, she has been actively involved in organizing major photography events, working as a volunteer, head of volunteers, assistant to the director, and project manager for the PhotoVisa International Photography Festival (2014–2017) and the Theatre Photography Festival. She has led ambrotype workshops in Italy and France.

Her artistic practice focuses on analog photography and the exploration and application of historical processes such as ambrotype, tintype, and others.
Founder and director of the Novosibirsk Photo Festival (since 2025).

Alena Falevich

Член жюри

A Russian documentary photographer, member of the Union of Photo Artists of Russia and the Russian Geographical Society, and senior lecturer in the Photojournalism program at Novosibirsk State University. His photographs have been shown in more than 40 exhibitions in cities including London, New York, Dubai, Istanbul, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and others.

Winner of the nationwide photo contest Young Photographers of Russia 2015.
Prizewinner of the Andrei Stenin International Press Photo Contest (2016).
Winner in the main category “Challenge” at the HIPA International Photography Award (2017).
Recipient of an Award of Excellence in Feature Picture Story – Newspaper at the 73rd Pictures of the Year International (POYi).

Named Photographer of the Year at the International Photography Awards (IPA-CIS) in 2016 and 2018.
Recipient of the Deeper Perspective of the Year Award at the International Photography Awards 2017 (IPA-CIS).
Also a prizewinner and winner of numerous other Russian and international photo competitions.
Serves as a jury member for major international photography contests.

He received a Russian Government grant for cultural and artistic figures in 2015, and Ministry of Culture grants in 2012, 2014, 2017, 2022, and 2025.
Winner of the Best of Russia project in 2012, 2013, and 2015.

His work has been published in Russian Reporter, Expert, Novaya Gazeta, Bolshoi Gorod, Unknown Siberia, Forbes, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Time, and many others.

He has shot commercial projects for brands including Coca-Cola, Toyota, Sberbank, Gazprom, Nornickel, Google, Caterpillar, P&G, Russian Railways, Beeline, MTS, Microsoft, Uber, VIST, Invitro, and more.

Anton Unitsyn

Член жюри

Founder of the Siberian Gallery of Visual Art and Design TAYIROVA.
Partner of the Pobeda Center for Culture and Leisure, curator of the White Gallery.
Designer and decorator.

Gallery website: https://tayirova.gallery/
Instagram: https://tayirova.gallery/
VK community: https://vk.com/tayirova_art_conception
TG channel: https://t.me/tayirova_art_conception

Olga Tayirova