The Grand Finale Is Approaching: Discover the URBAN 2026 Winners Shortlist

After months of eager anticipation, thousands of entries from talented photographers all over the world, a careful review and weeks of voting by our outstanding international jury, the finish line is now in sight!

We are delighted to present the Winners Shortlist of URBAN Photo Awards 2026, the selection that brings together the very best of this edition. The spotlight now falls on URBAN’s two main categories: Single Photos and Projects & Portfolios.

What Is the Winners Shortlist?

The Winners Shortlist brings together the authors who have earned one of the three awards at stake: Winner, Honourable Mentions and Remarkable Rewards.

Our jury examined every single work with great care, through a rigorous selection process. To keep the suspense alive until the final ceremony, the list is published in alphabetical order and divided by category: those who appear on it know they have won an award, but not yet which one.

The winners’ names will be revealed on Saturday 24 October 2026 at the URBAN Photo Awards Ceremony, held as part of Trieste Photo Days. The ceremony is open to the public and will be streamed live on URBAN’s social media channels.

An International Turnout

Once again this year URBAN Photo Awards gathered almost 20,000 images from around 5,000 photographers all over the world, across single photos, projects and portfolios and books, with the quality of the works rising higher still. URBAN thus continues to connect a global community of authors and enthusiasts, reaching beyond the boundaries of the digital world and becoming a true international meeting point for contemporary photography.

Our heartfelt thanks go to our jury, whose expertise and dedication made a careful and detailed assessment of the works in competition possible, ensuring the outstanding quality of this year’s shortlist:

Mark Power, Christopher Morris, Mihaela Noroc, Claudia Colecchia, Barbara Silbe, Michela Messina, K M Asad, Ilvy Njiokiktjien, Frank Thorp V, Murat Harmanlikli, Marco Wilm, Salwan Georges, Taras Bychko, Udit Kulshrestha, Gigi Soldano, Maciej Dakowicz, Salvo Galano, Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo, Nicola Bertellotti, Valery Poshtarov, Filippo Venturi, Wesley Verhoeve, Nesam Keshavarz, Jake Riker, Mattia Li Puma, Abdelrahman Alkahlout, Dawn Eagleton, Nicola D’Orta, Alexander Bronfer, Jonathan Jasberg, Rarindra Prakarsa, Joffrey Guillemard, Manolo Ty, Siegfried Hansen, Natela Grigalashvili.

Our heartfelt thanks also go to the partners of URBAN Photo Awards 2026, who provide the winners with prizes of the highest quality, including photographic equipment and professional services: Fowa, Ricoh, Pentax, SmallRig, Think Tank Photo, Stroppa, and the artist Giorgio Celiberti, who handcrafts the steles and seals presented to the winners.

Winners Shortlist

The 2026 winners’ shortlist is published in alphabetical order and is therefore not a ranking.

Single Photos – Streets

Dipanjan Chakraborty
Ewa Laskowska
Gianpaolo La Paglia
Ilan ben Yehuda
Janusz Jurek
Mateusz Kuca
Maya Mohan
Md Enamul Kabir
Pavel Skaev
Perry Hall
Remy Pinaton
Vittorio Fabianelli
Vittorio Ricci

Single Photos – People

Alexandr Shilov
Antonio Denti
Daniel Ramos
David-Leonardo Antal
Fernando Luigi Lucianetti
Matteo Rea
Mauro De Bettio
Ms. Happy Mukherjee
Seyit Konyali
Shyjith Onden Cheriyath
Sourav Das

Single Photos – Spaces

Alex Polli
Martin Wacker
Mustafa Binol
Pawel Zygmunt
Pietro Abbagnato
Simone Parigi
Stéphane De Rouville
Yevhen Kostiuk

Single Photos – Creative

Alireza Bagheri Sani
Elena Paraskeva
Laura Sales
Paolo Dellepiane
Shabnam Maleki
Valeria Ciardulli

Projects & Portfolios

Bouwe Brouwer
Michelle Sank
Sergei Stroitelev
Shunta Kimura

The Awards Ceremony

Save the date: the URBAN Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday 24 October at Sala Xenia in Trieste, at 6:00 pm, as part of Trieste Photo Days. If you cannot join us in person, you can follow the live stream on our social media channels, kept constantly up to date with the latest news from the festival.

Among the most eagerly awaited moments of the evening:

• Christopher Morris will present the Photographer of the Year award to one of the finest authors in Single Photos
• Mark Power will announce the winner of the Projects & Portfolios section
• the live final of the Under 35 URBAN Photo Arena contest

The ceremony will also see the presentation of the awards for the Mark Power Special Prize – Beyond the Surface, the URBAN Book Award, the Patricia D. Richards Legacy Award, the URBAN Press Award 2026, the Civic Museums Prize and the Special Prize for Artistic Sensitivity.

Exhibitions at Trieste Photo Days

Trieste Photo Days is by now one of the most prestigious photography festivals in Europe, and this year it celebrates its thirteenth edition.

Trieste becomes the capital of photography, offering the public an original itinerary of free exhibitions spread across the city, in institutional venues and in a selection of the finest premises taking part in the Trieste Photo Fringe circuit, where visitors can admire an extraordinary range of works drawn from the competitions and projects on the programme.

Trieste confirms its place as a lively meeting point for photographers and artists, creating a stimulating environment in which emerging talents and established professionals can share their passion and collaborate in a unique setting.