Marcin Zieliński has won the 16th Grand Press Photo, Poland’s most important photographic competition. The WUST student won third place in the sports category for his photo of men playing chess in the Feniks Shopping Centre in Wrocław.

Marcin Zieliński took the picture of the chess players by accident. On a January day, he entered the Feniks Shopping Centre, where he was looking for an electrical outlet to plug in his laptop and browse through the pictures he’d taken for the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.

- I didn't find the outlet, but I unexpectedly came across two men playing chess. I immediately found them interesting. Not vice versa, though. They weren't even particularly interested in the fact that he wanted to take a photo of them. They were absorbed in the game – says Marcin Zieliński, a 23-year-old graduate of computer science at the Faculty of Fundamental Problems of Technology, currently studying management at the Faculty of Computer Science and Management.

Shortly after taking the photo, Marcin Zieliński had no feeling that he had taken an exceptional photo, worthy of sending to a competition. It was only his friends and acquaintances who made him realise that the photo was unique. It has an aura of peace and it evokes a lot of positive emotions. He describes everyday life in its best aspect, a certain routine, in the good sense of the word.

- Later on, it turned out that the men play there regularly and are a fixture there – says Marcin Zieliński laughing. He also admitted that maybe he would give the picture to the owners of the restaurant where the men play. The photo will be placed over the heads of the chess players from the photo and thus make the scene complete in a humorous way. 

Marcin Zieliński has been taking photos since he was a student at the Secondary School in Gniezno, where he comes from. However, he always wanted to study at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He became more serious about photography when he was at university. He had already submitted his works for the Grand Press Photo competition before, but he did not succeed until this year. He is happy and proud that the competition committee - amid the pandemic - appreciated the photo telling about everyday life.

This year's 16th Grand Press Photo gala was held online due to the pandemic. Since April 23, the members of the competition committee selected, also online, the best photos in 7 categories, sent by 61 photojournalists. A record number of over 5,273 photos were submitted to the competition.

Grand Press Photo has been organised by the magazine "Press” and the Grand Press Foundation for 16 years. The competition is intended for professional photojournalists, including freelancers, but amateurs can take part in it as well. The committee was chaired by a Swede - Pieter Ten Hoopen, four-time winner of the World Press Photo competition.