PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant

14th edition

PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant

© Sergey Melnitchenko

Results

Main Prize

1st Prize
Frontline Rolls: Photos, Letters & Artifacts From Ukrainian Soldiers by Melnitchenko Sergey

€ 5,000, plus projections at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026, Kranj Foto Fest 2026 and PhMuseum Days 2026, and promotion on the PhMuseum channels.

2nd Prize
Light In My Pocket by Tahereh

€2,000, plus projections at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026, Kranj Foto Fest 2026 and PhMuseum Days 2026, and promotion on the PhMuseum channels.

3rd Prize
Loose Fist by Arhant Shrestha

€1,000, plus projections at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026, Kranj Foto Fest 2026 and PhMuseum Days 2026, and promotion on the PhMuseum channels.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has become one of the most widely mediated conflicts in history, with vernacular reporting playing an unprecedented role alongside traditional media. Initiated by Sergey Melnitchenko, Frontline Rolls brings together accounts from Ukrainian soldiers on the front line. The project turns away from both the spectacle of violence and conventional war reporting. It does not depict combat or glorify war. Instead, its subjects create a diary of everyday life at the front, learning to inhabit a space in which they have been forced to live for over four years. Can such conditions become normalized? Or do they signal post-traumatic stress on the scale of an entire generation? This immersive archive of photographs, artefacts, and letters forms a collective, multi-voiced narrative of lives shaped by a conflict that began over a decade ago – and has, for the past four years, unfolded at full scale.
Rafal Milach, Independent Judge, on Sergey Melnitchenko's Frontline Rolls – 1st Prize Recipient

Results

New Generation Prize

New Generation Prize Recipient
We Knew The World In Fragments Of Color by Victoria Ruiz

€2,000, plus projections at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026, Kranj Foto Fest 2026 and PhMuseum Days 2026, and promotion on the PhMuseum channels.

Results

New Generation Prize Honourable Mentions

West Of The Birch Trees
by Anastasia Miseyko

26/01
by Mehrdad Mosaferi

Victoria Ruiz has a multivalent practice that spans performance, mask-making, carnivalesque costume creation, temporary sculptures and photography. With the rituals and mythology of her Venezuelan motherland melded with storytelling around ongoing civil unrest and suppression, and largest displacement crises in the world today, Ruiz draws us in with the vitality of her work. I appreciate the way in which her beautiful photographs fix but also complicate the stories that she tells us.
Charlotte Cotton, Independent Judge, on Victoria Ruiz' We Knew The World In Fragments Of Color – New Generation Prize Recipient

Results

A Solo Exhibition at PhEST

Prize Recipient
FUNFUN/GUN by Marek Kita

Selected by PhEST's team, the work is granted a solo show during the 11th edition of the festival to be held in Monopoli, Italy in September 2026.

Results

A Solo Exhibition at Getxophoto

Prize Recipient
Radiant Grounds by Jan Richard Heinicke

Selected by Maria Ptqk, head curator of Getxophoto, the work is awarded an exhibition during the 20th edition of the festival to be held in Getxo, Basque Country, Spain, in June 2026. In addition to the show production, the winner will receive an artist fee of €400 and accommodation for 2 nights during the Opening Week.

Results

A Solo Exhibition at PhMuseum Lab

Prize Recipient
Parallel Mutant Family by Fujimura Family

Selected by PhMuseum's Founding and Artistic Director Giuseppe Oliverio, the project will be exhibited at PhMuseum Lab, Bologna, Italy, in January 2027. The prize includes production costs, and contribution to travel and stay expenses.

“When a new family is born, life takes on a different meaning. Time accelerates, and images become the most precious gift left to recall and celebrate the journey together. This subject is brilliantly interpreted by the Fujimura Family, who pair collage with a maximalist aesthetic. By cutting, stitching, and layering daily photographs, the project transforms subconscious memories into a tactile experience, exposing the complex, fragile, and layered process through which personal narratives are constructed. What stands out is a collaborative approach where freedom is the only rule to explore how daily life is full of precious moments and rituals that evolve and shift in meaning as we grow. Beyond its contemporary relevance, the work fits into the long tradition of the family album, responding with joy to a question that stays timeless: what will remain as time passes? Parallel Mutant Family is a visual testament within the frame of today’s visual culture that we are extremely happy to exhibit at PhMuseum Lab”.
Giuseppe Oliverio, PhMuseum's Founding and Artistic Director, on Fujimura Family's Parallel Mutant Family – Solo Exhibition at PhMuseum Lab Recipient

Results

Participation in Photo-Match, Lodz Fotofestiwal

Prize Recipient
After The Fathers by Dimitri Stefanov

Selected by Krzysztof Candrowicz and Mafalda Ruao, the artist is invited to join the innovative presentation and portfolio review Photo-Match at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026. The prize covers travel and accommodation.

Results

Features in PhMuseum's printed Annual #02

The works will be published on the second issue of PhMuseum's printed Annual Magazine, which will be launched at PhMuseum Days 2026 in October 2026.

Loose Fist
by Arhant Shrestha

Frontline Rolls: Photos, Letters & Artifacts From Ukrainian Soldiers
by Melnitchenko Sergey

The Reinforcements
by Qiana Mestrich

Spider, Snake, Turtle And Dragon
by Xiaoxiao Xu

Results

Shortlisted Projects Screening at International Photo Festivals

The 36 shortlisted projects of this edition will be screened at Lodz Fotofestiwal 2026, Kranj Foto Fest 2026 and PhMuseum Days 2026

*to Die Is To Be Turned To Gold
by Akshay Mahajan

For The Leisure Of Working Insects
by Alba Ruiz Lafuente

West Of The Birch Trees
by Anastasia Miseyko

Loose Fist
by Arhant Shrestha

Solar Recordings Of Phone Calls With Family, Friends, And Scammers
by Bart Urbanski

Alén Do Lago
by Carlos Folgoso Sueiro

To Skip A Sinking Stone
by Daniel Dorsa

The Serpent's Thread
by Emilia Martin

Pretty In Pink
by Francesca Bergamini

AMERICANXS
by Hector Emanuel

Atlas For L
by Henri Kisielewski

'Once Upon A Time' Multiple Protagonists And A Gospel In Racial Time.
by Jermaine Francis

DO IT T0 YOURSELF
by Joaanna Olichwer

Glimmers, Feathers And Staring Skies
by Joel Jimenez

We Will Not Be Stopped
by Marcel Top

In The Mountains, The Sun Is Shining
by Matevž Čebašek

Tactical Bodies
by Meg De Young

Garden
by Mehrdad Mirzaie

26/01
by Mehrdad Mosaferi

Frontline Rolls: Photos, Letters & Artifacts From Ukrainian Soldiers
by Melnitchenko Sergey

Spark Of A Nail
by Morgan Levy

Generation Of War
by Mykhaylo Palinchak

Where The Water Flows
by Myrto Papadopoulos

The Reinforcements
by Qiana Mestrich

Alive In Wonderland
by Rohit Saha

Not Really Now (Not Anymore)
by Sam Gulliver

A Home With No Roof
by Sara Faustino

Called To The Carpet
by Sasha Velichko

The Ouroboros Of Faces
by Sheung Yiu

Bereitschaft
by Ganslmeier & Zibelnik

Light In My Pocket
by Tahereh

Alberta Crude
by Teo Becher

Crab Pincer
by Tianxi Wang

ERA
by Tobias Kruse

We Knew The World In Fragments Of Color
by Victoria Ruiz

The Dual Gaze Of The Moon
by XIANGQI YIN

About

PhMuseum 2026 Photography Grant

General Info

The PhMuseum Photography Grant is an annual initiative that recognises the importance of photography and visual storytelling.

Over the years it has grown into a leading photography prize, with previous editions having awarded work by photographers like Max Pinckers, Poulomi Basu, Jacob Aue Sobol, Diana Markosian, Alejandro Cartagena, Bieke Depoorter, Salvatore Vitale, Camille Lévêque, and Tomas van Houtryve, among many others. Now in its 14th edition, the initiative is designed to support the production and promotion of visual projects through cash prizes, exhibitions at international festivals, educational activities and exposure on online media.

The theme is open. All approaches are welcome, from traditional documentary photography to experimental ways of telling a story or sharing a concept. Applicants retain full image copyrights. You can see all the prizes and learn how to apply below, while you can check FAQs here.

By applying, you'll also receive a 15% discount on your next one-on-one booking with PhMuseum experts, and a 20% discount on PhMuseum Annual Magazine (subject to availability). Thanks for considering this opportunity and best of luck with your applications!

Prizes

Supported by

Independent jury

  • Rafal Milach
    i

    Rafal Milach

    Visual artist, Photographer, Artivist, and Educator

  • Charlotte Cotton
    i

    Charlotte Cotton

    Curator, Writer and Creative Consultant

  • Carmen Winant
    i

    Carmen Winant

    Artist and the Roy Lichtenstein Endowed Chair of Studio Art at the Ohio State University

  • Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo
    i

    Sergio Valenzuela-Escobedo

    Artist and Researcher

Past editions

PhMuseum 2025 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2024 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2023 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2022 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2021 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2020 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2019 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2018 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2017 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2016 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2015 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2014 Photography Grant

PhMuseum 2013 Photography Grant