Meet Matt Black – President of the jury of URBAN Photo Awards 2025
We are pleased to announce that the President of the Jury for the 2025 edition of URBAN Photo Awards will be the American documentary photographer Matt Black, a member of the renowned Magnum Photos agency!
URBAN is proud to have always hosted legendary photographers as presidents of the jury: Harry Gruyaert, Susan Meiselas, Jérôme Sessini, Alec Soth, Nino Migliori, Bruce Gilden, Alex Webb and Martin Parr, just to name a few.
As President of the Jury, Black will personally choose the Overall Winner of the Projects and Portfolio section, who will be announced and awarded together with the other classified photographers during the final ceremony of the contest, on Saturday, October 25, 2025, as part of the Trieste Photo Days festival.
We can already give you a big preview involving Matt Black: a special section of the URBAN contest, “Gazes on Existence”. Matt Black will personally select 3 Projects/Portfolios/Series of photographs to be part of a prestigious exhibition that he will personally curate and which will also include one of his projects. It will be presented at Trieste Photo Days 2025: the selected projects will be exhibited in a collective exhibition to be held from October 24th to November 9th at the municipal exhibition space of Magazzino 26 in the Old Port of Trieste, as an integral part of the festival.
Matt Black will be present throughout the entire festival, where he will personally award the winners of the Projects and Portfolio section and the special “Gazes on Existence” prize, as well as hold an important workshop.
A workshop led by renowned photographer Matt Black will be held as part of the festival program. “Gazes on Existence” is designed for documentary photographers who want to deepen and refine their storytelling skills. Participants will be encouraged to critically reflect on their work, explore their personal vision, and consider the significance of their photography in today’s world. Through group discussions, the workshop will address the intersection of the personal and the public, the balance between documentary and interpretation, and the connection between history and the present, with the aim of turning private perspectives into broader public impact.
For more details about Matt Black’s workshop and his role as President of the Jury for the URBAN Photo Awards 2025, please check the workshop link below:
