VOUBS awarded the Best photographers of 2016

Gencho Petkov was awarded the prize "Photographer of the Year"

After a long preparation, after more than 6 months of registration and two stages of voting, at an official ceremony on April 6th at "VIVACOM Art Hall" with great pleasure we awarded the grand prize, "Photographer of the Year", in the first edition of "VOUBS International Photography Awards 2016 ". Hosts of the ceremony were musical star Mariana Popova and actor Simeon Lyutakov.

The "Golden VOUBS" and a check for 5000 euro went to the winner of the special award, "Photographer of the Year", Gencho Petkov, who won in a great competition among 592 participants from around the world, with the vote of tens of thousands of users and a prestigious international jury of 9 members - Beliy Den (Russia), Pini Hamou (Israel), Eric Nathan (South Africa), Lilia Yotova (Bulgaria), Dustin Sparks (Australia), Cristina Venedict (Romania) GMB Akash (Bangladesh), João Morgado (Portugal), James Duckworth (USA).

Special guests of the ceremony were members of the jury - Beliy Den, Pini Hamou, Eric Nathan and Lilia Yotova.

"Thank you for this wonderful recognition! I am happy that my works are valued so highly by both the jury and the users of VOUBS", the lucky winner said to the audience.

Gencho Petkov is from Veliko Tarnovo. He is a professor of digital photography at the University of “St. Cyril and St. Methodius”, a member artist of the World Federation of Photographic Art (AFIAP) and co-founder of the Association of Advertising Photographers in Bulgaria. His works were presented in more than 20 countries, including Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, USA, Mexico, India, China and Lebanon.

The first place in the "Images from Bulgaria" category went to Veselin Atanasov for his amazing photography "Sentry", a beacon of Ahtopol. He was awarded the prize check for 2000 euro personally by mountaineer and “Man of the Year” Boyan Petrov.

"I accept this first cash prize in my career as compensation. A few years ago I tried to photograph the lighthouse from the rocky coast, but the stormy sea took all of my equipment," said the winner.

The first five winners in the category:

The first place in the "Fashion" category went to advertising photographer from Slovakia Martin Krastinek. He was awarded the prize by former Miss Bulgaria Elena Tihomirova.

The first five winners in the category:

The award in the "Architecture" category went to Sarah Caldwell from New Zealand. To present the winner with the award, we invited the Vice-rector of the "University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG)", Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Boris Tzotchev Tzankov, who told the audience at the event that “photographs beautifully embody the truth”. He added that "architecture is frozen music."

The first five winners in the category:

Photographer Tanver Hassan Rohan, who was awarded 1^st place in the "Reportage" category, arrived from Bangladesh specially for the ceremony. He received his award from the manager of the Bulphoto photo agency Evgeni Dimitrov.

The first five winners in the category:

Chef Andre Tokev awarded Mihai Penghios, the winner from Romania in the "Food photography" category, for his photograph "Sandwich with bacon".

The first five winners in the category:

The journalist Georgi Toshev gave the first place award in the "People" category to Sandra Ventura from Portugal.

The first five winners in the category:

Among the special guests were the actress Stefani Kocheva, singer Maria Gruncharova and Polly Paskova, journalists from various media, representatives of embassies and members of the Association of professional photographers in Bulgaria.

An exhibition with the best photographs from the competition, "VIPA International Photography Awards 2016", is open to the public until April 17th, at the exhibition space of "Vivacom Art Hall" in Sofia. The entrance is free. You are invited!