The competition judges

The Jury is composed of distinguished individuals from various countries, ensuring diversity and plurality of perspectives. The Jury is international and consists of 15 members. The General Coordinator of the competition is the IAO Adviser Dr Kostas Mygdalis (Greece) and the Art Commissioner and Professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts Dr Manal Helal (Egypt), while the Jury is chaired by the renowned iconographer Mr. Georgios Kordis (Greece). Using secure access codes, jurors may review the submitted material but cannot view the names or personal details of the contestants. The names of the contestants and all declared personal data will be stored with absolute security in a protected database.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria shall include:
• Originality and creativity
• Artistic quality and technical excellence
• Conceptual depth and relevance to the theme

Dr Kostas Mygdalis, General Coordinator of the Competition, Greece

Dr of Theology, Architect, Advisor of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy. Member of the Organisational Committee of Pan‑European Congress „Orthodoxy in the New European Reality” (1993) organised by the Greek Parliament. Founding member of the Centre for Ecumenical Studies and Inter‑Orthodox Information seated in Thessaloniki.
more

Professor Dr. Manal Helal Ayoub Gergis, Art Commissioner of the Competition, Egypt

Prof. Dr. Manal Helal is a distinguished academic and visual artist specializing in sculpture, painting, and ceramics. She is the former Head of Sculpture and Architectural Form at Capital University, Egypt, and a former Member of the Egyptian Parliament. In 2024, she became the first Egyptian woman on the International Secretariat of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Helal has organized numerous international art symposiums to foster global cultural dialogue. She is a leading advocate for cultural heritage, focusing on the Holy Family’s Journey in Egypt as a rich source of artistic inspiration and harmony.
www.manal-helal.com

Georgios Kordis, Chair, Greece

Dr. George Kordis is internationally recognized as a leading artist and scholar in the contemporary revival of the Byzantine icon tradition. His painting does not aim to express the essence of reality, human sentiments or feelings, nor does it claim to present a subjective description of what my eyes see in the world. It isn’t a kind of expressionism or surrealism, although it has much in common with these modernist stylistic movements. His painting cannot be categorized within the framework of modern Western art because it is grounded in a different cultural framework, that of Greek-Byzantine art, where painting and its function are conceived of in an entirely different way.
www.kordis.gr

Prof. Mohsen Kamel Khalil Youssef, Egypt

Professor Emeritus and former Acting Head of the Decoration Department, Faculty of Applied Arts. Member of the Fine Artists Syndicate, Applied Arts Designers Syndicate, and Cairo Atelier; held solo art exhibitions. Designed massive murals (e.g., Conrad Hotel, Oriental Weavers) and architectural beautification works for mosques, churches, and international institutions like the Central Library in Germany and the US Embassy.

Ilda Mara, Albania

Cultural manager, media professional, publisher, and international cooperation expert with over 30 years of experience. She is the founder and Executive Director of ARGJIRO, a French-Albanian NGO dedicated to establishing and developing international cultural exchanges and building bridges of dialogue between Albania and Europe. She is also the publisher and Executive Director of the Albanian cultural periodical Art & Trashëgimi (Art & Heritage). Ilda Mara graduated from two renowned Parisian institutions: the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the Institut de Langues et de Civilisations Orientales (INALCO). She began her career in Paris in 1997 at the French weekly Courier International (until 2008), while also contributing to the quarterly Politique Internationale and Courrier des Balkans since 2000. From 2002 to 2006, she worked as a consultant for UNESCO. Her extensive media experience includes collaborations on numerous documentaries with leading French channels such as Arte, Canal+, France 2, and France 24.

Dr. Seyranush Manukyan, Armenia

Art historian, art theorist, and scholar. She graduated from the Department of Art History of Lomonosov Moscow State University. She holds a PhD in Art History and is an Associate Professor at the Department of History and Theory of Armenian Art, Faculty of History, Yerevan State University, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Arts of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia.
Her doctoral dissertation was devoted to the topic “Rubrication in the System of Artistic Design of Armenian Manuscript Gospels.” Her research focuses on Armenian medieval and modern art, as well as Armenian-Byzantine, Armenian-Western European, and Armenian-Eastern European cultural relations. She is the author of approximately 150 scholarly articles, conference papers, monographs, albums, and scholarly catalogues, published in various languages and devoted to the medieval art of Armenia and Armenian art of the second half of the 20th century.

Ekaterine Gedevanishvili, Georgia

Associated scholar at the Tbilisi National Museum , member of the National Committee of the Gelati Rehabilitation project, member the Lyceum Cub of Georgia. Education: PhD dissertation “The Representation of the Holy Face in the Christian Art (Mandylion and St. Veronica’s Icon)”, Postgraduate studies, Ivane Javakhishvili State University, Tbilisi,Laboratory of Ivane Javakhishvili State University (Studding of the Art on the Crossroads of East and West).

Markos Kampanis, Greece

Born in 1955 in Athens. He studied painting in London, where he lived until 1980. He works in painting, printmaking, book illustration, murals and occasionally in stage design. His work can be described as realist, though it incorporates a wide range of technical variations. His intense, almost fetishistic, interest in the materials and techniques of painting and printmaking operates alongside an academic interest in art history, which has led him to curate books and exhibitions. His subject matter is extensive, with landscapes, still lifes, trees, as well as the very process of painting itself and the world of his studio occupying a central place. He has held numerous solo exhibitions and participated in many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. For several years his work focused on Mount Athos and was presented in a 2010 exhibition at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens. In 2023–24, a major retrospective exhibition of his work was organized at the National Library of Greece and at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts in Thessaloniki. A series of works based on the Odyssey was presented in 2025 at the Benaki Museum.

Aleksander Wasyluk, Poland

President of the OrthNet Association. Εditor and one of the founders of www.orthphoto.net - a global online community platform and photo gallery for amateur and professional photographers. It showcases the beauty, traditions, and life of the Orthodox Christian faith worldwide through community-shared images. Founder of a Polish website about and for orthodox believers www.cerkiew.pl. Currently working for a photo educational project: www.szerokikadr.pl for Nikon Poland.
www.aleksanderwasyluk.pl

Coman Mihai, Romania

Lecturer, Sacred Art department, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Bucharest University Associated lecturer, Department of Restoration and Conservation, Faculty of Art History, Art University Bucharest Church painter attested by the Church Painting Committee of Romanian Patriarchy (since 2003). Member of Romanian Artists Association (since 2005). Member EIKONA group – Icon Painters Teaching in European Universities (since 2008) Chairman of Orthodoxy and the Visual Arts Group, IOTA - International Orthodox Theological Association din 2024 Studies

Alexander W. Fomenko, Russia

Born on 30 August 1961 and graduated from the Philological Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1984. He pursued a career in journalism, literary criticism, editing, and publishing. From 1990 to 1995, he held editorial and research positions at Literaturnaja Rossija, Politika, and the Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He subsequently worked in the field of cultural heritage protection and international economic relations and served on the Board of the Russian Union of Writers. From 2000 to 2003, he held senior positions at the Russian Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology and the Yakovlev Aircraft Design Bureau. From 2008 to 2010, he directed the Centre for Studies of Competitive Advantages and Alternative Strategies of Development at the Russian State University of Trade and Economics. Between 2011 and 2016, he served as an adviser to the Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Since 2016, he has again served as a member of the Board of the Russian Union of Writers. His more recent public and social activities have included advisory work on inter-Christian relations and cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy. He is the author of books on international relations, history, geopolitics, and the Russian world, and speaks Russian and English fluently, with a working knowledge of French and reading knowledge of Italian and Spanish.

Todor Mitrovic, Serbia

Born in Belgrade, Serbia, 1972. Graduated from the Faculty of Fine arts (FLU) at the University of Arts in Belgrade, 1997; awarded Doctor of Arts degree, from the same Faculty/University, 2015. Exhibited artworks at twelve solo exhibitions, and at numerous group exhibitions throughout the world. Active engagement in the Belgrade art scene with abstract paintings (awarded for the exhibition in 1999). Painting icons since 1993. Having experienced diverse modes of artistic expression (portrait, abstract, and icon painting), Todor Mitrović is trying to make a bridge between the Church and contemporary art in his icons. Through artistic and theoretic postgraduate researches he achieved to exhibit icons as an academically recognized development of contemporary art scene. Teaching different courses about (portable) icon painting, on bachelor and master level, at the Academy of Serbian Orthodox Church for Fine Arts and Conservation in Belgrade, in status of (full) Professor. Theoretically researching Church art through the fields of art theory, art history (Byzantine), theology, semiotics... Published numerous papers and three books, one of which was later translated and published in two European languages.

Dumitru Musteata, Moldova

Born 1980. 24 .05 or. FĂLEŞTI, MOLDOVA Education: 1993-1998 Republican High School of Fine Arts Igor Vieru. 1998-2003 Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts of Moldova. Professional activity: 2005 to present Full Member of the UAP (Union of Fine Artists) of Moldova. 2003-2007 Lecturer at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts of Moldova. 2021 to present Professor at the Ion Creanga Pedagogical University of Chisinau. Various national and international exhibitions, creative camps and symposiums. Icons and paintings in private and public collections: Spain, Ukraine, Greece, USA, Malta, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and other countries. Mural painting in various churches and monasteries, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine

Dr Loucas Panayiotou, Cyprus

Graduate of the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School of Athens and holds degrees from the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and the School of Theology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). He holds a PhD in Theology and currently serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Theology at the University of Nicosia, where he teaches Church History. He also serves as General Secretary and General Coordinator of the University’s postgraduate and doctoral programmes in Theology. Alongside his theological studies, he studied Journalism at the Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA), as well as Byzantine and European Music at the Athens Conservatoire. He specialized in Palaeography at the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece (MIET), in Archival and Library Studies at the General State Archives of Greece (GAK), and in History and Archaeology at the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) in Athens. Dr Panayiotou has worked as a journalist and programme producer and served successively as Deputy Director and General Director of the “O LOGOS” Radio and Television Station.

Ljubica Meshkova Solak, North Macedonia

Visual artist, art educator and gallery owner, with more than 25 years of professional experience in the visual arts. She graduated from the Secondary School of Applied Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Skopje. Since graduating, she has developed a diverse artistic practice encompassing painting, graphic art, mixed media, textile, mosaic and other contemporary visual approaches. Throughout her 25-year professional career, Solak has presented her work in 17 solo exhibitions in North Macedonia and internationally, including exhibitions and artistic presentations in Sofia, Paris, Istanbul, Madeira, Berlin, Skopje, Bitola and other locations. Alongside her artistic practice, she has been actively involved in conservation and restoration projects, combining artistic knowledge with practical experience in the preservation of cultural and artistic heritage. She is the founder and owner of Solak Gallery / Concept Store in Bitola, a space dedicated to contemporary art, creativity and artistic expression. Her work is characterized by an interest in experimentation, interdisciplinary approaches and the dialogue between contemporary visual language and cultural heritage.

Mitko Ivanov, Bulgaria

An independent artist, he served two terms as chairman of the Burgas Artists' Association. He graduated from St. Cyril and St. Methodius University in Veliko Tarnovo, specializing in graphic art and aesthetics. He works in icon painting and sacred mural painting, as well as the conservation of paintings, icons, and antiques. He is also engaged in historiography and the preservation of cultural and historical heritage.