The 2020 Edition

The CitiesToBe Photo Award was launched in 2019, in the context of Anteverti’s 10th anniversary, as an invitation to look at cities through a visual lens. An international urban photography competition, it was created to explore images that portray cities and their complexity — their layers, tensions and constantly evolving realities.

The 1st edition of the CitiesToBe Photo Award opened its call for entries in December 2019 for a period of two months, with a clear aim: to give visibility to photographers and visual storytellers who use the city as both subject and field of exploration. The response was as diverse as urban life itself. A total of 533 photographs from more than 60 countries were submitted, forming a global mosaic of urban scenes, perspectives and narratives.

From this body of work, the jury shortlisted 50 finalist images, from which one First Prize and ten Honorary Mentions were awarded. The results of the competition were announced on 4 March 2020.

The winning image, together with the Honorary Mentions and a curated selection of shortlisted works, was later brought together in the edition’s book, published in 2021, extending the life of the award beyond the call itself and consolidating it as a visual archive of contemporary urban experience.

The First Prize of the Citiestobe Photo Award 2020 was awarded to Roman Demyanenko (1984), an independent documentary photographer based in Voronezh, Russia, for his image 'Vorkuta'.

The photograph reflects on the past and present of cities and the volatility of urban realities, capturing the coexistence of effervescence and decay in Europe’s easternmost town — a place shaped by transition, memory and change.

As part of the award, Demyanenko received an acquisitive prize of €1,500, and the winning photograph became part of Anteverti’s private urban photography collection.

Author's Words

«Vorkuta is situated in a permafrost zone near the Arctic Circle, and it is the easternmost town in Europe. After the beginning of Stalin’s mass repressions in Vorkuta was formed one of the most cruel Gulag camp. Prisoner’s forced labour was used for the coal mining. More than 200 thousand prisoners died in Vorkuta.

After the Fall of the USSR profitability of coal mines was doubted. The collapse of the Soviet economy set in motion the decline of Vorkuta.

Many people left their houses and moved from Vorkuta.

Vorkuta became one of the most rapidly dying cities in Russia»

About the Author

Roman Demyanenko, born in 1984, is a freelance documentary photographer based in Voronezh, Russia.

Since 2013 he started to work as a staff news photographer for newspaper Molodoj Kommunar. In 2017, Demyanenko started photographing events for the TASS news agency. He graduated from the Academy of Documentary Photography and Photojournalism “Fotografika” in 2019.

His work has been published in newspapers and magazines including The Washington Post, Forbes, The Calvert Journal, The Moscow Times, International Photography Magazine, Republic, Novaya Gazeta or Meduza, where his complete photo report on Vorkuta was featured.

+ Visit Roman Demyanenko's website here

+ Read our interview with Roman Demyanenko here