TEHRAN – Iranian photographers have won top honors at the 4th Victor Polynsky Awards in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

The competition was held in the categories of Open Monochrome, Open Color, Portrait Color, Creative Color, Landscape and Photojournalism.

It was organized by the Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique (FIAP), the Photographic Society of America (PSA) and the Focus Photo Club (FPC), Iran’s branch of the FIAP.

Mehdi Zabolabbasi won the FIAP Gold Medal for his photo “Black Face” in the Portrait Color category. The photo shows several Iranian coal miners. 

In this section, Mir Ali Parandak received an honorable mention for his photo “Hanieh”. 

The FIAP Gold Medal in Creative Color was also awarded to Arlen Keshishian for his photo “Perspective”. He also won an honorable mention in Portrait Color.

Kiarang Alai’s “The Sign” won the FIAP Ribbon and Hossein Davui’s “Scarecrow” was granted the FPC Trophy in this section.

Alireza Baqeri-Sani and Morteza Tabatabai won honorable mentions.

“Hossein”, an image of a funeral by Amir-Hossein Honarvar, also won the FIAP Gold Medal in Photojournalism.

Saeid Arabzadeh, Amin Behjat, Mir Ali Parandak and Marzeyeh Shahroodi received honorable mentions.

The FIAP Ribbon in the Open Monochrome section was given to Saeid Arabzadeh for his photo “Face”, which depicts a tazieh performer.

Maryam Sadat Ahmadi, Abbas Hajihossein-Kalantar, Reza Javadi and Mehdi Zabolabbasi won honorable mentions.

Kiarang Alai’s photo “In a Row”, which depicts some ducks walking in a straight line, won the FPC Trophy in the Open Color section.

Saeid Arabzadeh, Alireza Baqeri-Sani, Hossein Davudi, Amin Malekzadeh and Mohammad Mokhtarnia received honorable mentions.

In the Landscape category, “Lake Urmia”, an image of the Iranian lake by Hossein Davudi, won the FIAP Ribbon. 

Farzin Izaddoost-Dar and Golriz Khanalizadeh won honorable mentions.

A jury comprising Miroslav Predojevic from Serbia, Buket Ozatay from Cyprus and Ehsan Mortazavi from Iran selected the winners.

The photography contest is organized by the Victor Polynsky Photo School.

It has been named after Victor Polynsky (1965-2013), a self-taught photographer who was born and raised in Kyrgyzstan. He was best known for his photos depicting the natural attractions of his homeland.

Photo: “In a Row” by Kiarang Alai won the FPC Trophy in the Open Color section at the 4th Victor Polynsky Awards in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

MMS/YAW