In all, there were 2001 entrants from 63 countries at the third annual Festimage, of which 1499 were accepted into the contest. For the first evaluation of the projects we put together an Admissions Panel which included José Mamede, from Brazil, Juanjo Martín, from Spain, Armands Grundmanis, from Latvia, and Roman Voloshin, from the Ukraine. The scores awarded to the projects by this panel also determined the finalists in the competition.

The Final Panel, which selected the five prizewinners from among the finalists, consisted of Concepción Alarcón, from Spain, Edith Dedyk, from Brazil, Eugen Radescu, from Romania, Per Valentin, from Denmark, and Dmitry Yershov, from Russia.

After the Festimage finalists’ projects are reproduced on paper, they shall be put on display at the Cinema-Theater Gallery in Chaves, from 8 to 31 July. In turn, the works of some of the finalists shall be enlarged onto large-format canvas and put on display on a few façades on streets in the city’s historical center. At the same time, all accepted works will be projected on two giant screens set up in the city’s leisure areas. These two outdoor exhibits will take place from 8 July to 31 August.

Festimage is an event promoted by the City Council of Chaves, a city located in the north of Portugal. The entire event occurs over the Internet, at the site www.festimage.org, which comprises versions in six languages.

After three annual events, Festimage has had 5.217 entrants from 92 countries. In these three annual Festimage, the majority of contestants has always been from Spain, Brazil, Germany and Portugal. This year’s Festimage also had a significant number of entrants from India, France, Mexico, Colombia, Russia, Romania and Georgia.
Festimage’s first winner was Colombian photographer Luís Henry Agudelo.

Who is Abhijit Nandi?
This year’s Festimage winner is a teacher. His hobby as an amateur photographer became a more serious passion as of 2005. Since then, his talent has become more noteworthy through the awards he has already garnered, including the following, among others:
. Photographer of the year 2006 –adjudged by Better Photography Magazine, which is the most popular photography Magazine in India.
. Won 1st prize in colour section and a special mention in b/w section in 19th National Photo contest, organized by Photo Division, ministry of information and broadcasting, govt. of India;
. Won 2nd prize in b/w category & one special mention in colour category in WHO Photo Contest “Images of Health and Disability 2006”;
.Won 1st prize in the Photographer of the year 2006 (category Monsoon) contest organized by Better Photography;
. 1st award in b/w category in Ritz big print photo contest;
. Runners up city magazine – on city many destinations photo contest;
. 1st and 3rd award in Venice international photo contest;
. Award in “Asahi Shimbun” the international photographic salon of Japan.