An image of a man crossing the finish line of Banja Luka’s 21 kilometres race was named the best sports photography of 2019 in Bosnia, winning ‘Tomislav Trojak’ award.

“Sports photography is about a moment. You never know when will it come, contrary to other sorts of photography. You never know when you are going to take that photo to impress people,” said Banja Luka photographer Aleksandar Cavic, the author of the photo symbolically called ‘Grandpa’.

The second best photo was made by Jasmin Hadzic, while photographers Jelena Djurdjevic and Goran Loncar shared the third position.

The Centre for Creative Activities from the northern city of Tuzla, where the event took place, said their goal was to show how many of creative photographers are out there, although they work under difficult conditions.

“Sports photography is a type of documentary photography and is always capable of documenting one moment in the life of a person in the sport. It shows both nice and sad moments,” said Robert Andrejas a jury member.

Jelena Djurdjevic is one of the rare women photographers. The only one in the city of Banja Luka.

“I am not a sports photographer, but a photojournalist who covers all areas. I played basketball for 18 years, and I’ve always been fond of sports and now I’m forcing it through photography,” said Djurdjevic who took the second award in this competition.

The award is named after the master of photography Tomislav Trojak, one of the most prominent Bosnian photojournalists whose shots from the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo and a Firenze basketball competition, when a Bosnian team won the title, are amongst the most memorable ones.

The late photographer left a task to young generations to cherish the photography as a sports treasure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the organizers said.