Winners of the 17th edition of URBAN Photo Awards 2026 revealed
On Saturday 24 October, Sala Xenia, on the Trieste waterfront, hosted the award ceremony of the 17th edition of the URBAN Photo Awards, one of the most eagerly awaited events of the 13th edition of Trieste Photo Days. On stage were the jury presidents Christopher Morris and Mark Power.
Now in its 17th edition, the URBAN Photo Awards confirms its place among the leading international competitions, bringing together every year the perspectives of photographers from all over the world on city life, in all its complexity and contradictions. Once again this year, the jury assessed thousands of works across the Single Photos and Projects & Portfolios sections and the Book Award, all of a very high standard.
Christopher Morris, founding member of VII Photo Agency and president of the Single Photos jury, awarded the title of Photographer of the Year 2026 to Alexandr Shilov, chosen from the first-place winners of the Streets, People, Spaces, and Creative categories.
Alexandr Shilov – Untitled
Mark Power, member of Magnum Photos and president of the Projects & Portfolios jury, chose Michelle Sank as the winner of the section with the project Burnthouse Lane. The same project is also one of the three winners of the Mark Power Special Prize – Beyond the Surface, together with The Colour Beneath the Grey by Katerina Kouzmitcheva and The Archeological Bazaar by Federico Possati. The three projects are on display in Sala Leonor Fini at Magazzino 26, alongside a selection from Power’s Good Morning, America, until 8 November.
With Burnthouse Lane, Michelle Sank also won the TPD Best Author 2026 Edilimpianti Innovation Partner award, presented at Trieste Photo Days to the photographer who receives the most recognitions across the competition’s sections.
The Artistic Sensitivity Award, presented by Giorgio Celiberti, the Udine-born painter and sculptor who exhibited at the Venice Biennale as early as 1948, went to Georgian photographer Da Miane for the image Movie. The award honours the evocative power of an image and its ability to convey the emotional dimension of reality; the winner receives a stele handmade by the artist.
Movie by Da Miane
The other special prizes were also presented during the evening.
Marcel van Beek won the Patricia D. Richards Legacy Award 2026 with The Future was Extracted Here, an investigation into the coal landscape of the lignite basins around Leipzig. The project was selected by Claudia Colecchia. The award goes each year to the best portfolio submitted by a photographer under 35 in the Projects & Portfolios section, to support a new generation of socially engaged storytellers. The exhibition is on display in Sala Arturo Fittke until 3 November.
The ninth edition of the Premio Musei Civici was won by Michele Zousmer with Holding On, an intimate observation of a condition as personal as it is social: the loneliness of elderly women in Romania and Bulgaria. The project was selected by Claudia Colecchia and Michela Messina. The exhibition is on display at the Civico Museo Sartorio, in dialogue with the museum’s collections, until 8 November.
The Book Award, selected by Mihaela Noroc went to Yuji Haikal (Johor, Malaysia) for Why Aren’t You Taking Photos Anymore? The title echoes the question his father asked him in 2020, a few months before he died, which brought him back to photography after years away from it. Shot in black and white, the book weaves street photography together with an intimate reflection on his father’s life and death.
The Press Award 2026 went to Lorenzo Roncaglione for Appleby Horse Fair – Portraits of a Tradition in Motion, selected by Federica Berzioli, editorial coordinator of IL FOTOGRAFO (Gruppo Sprea Editori). Every year in Appleby-in-Westmorland, England, Gypsy and Traveller communities from across the United Kingdom gather for the largest horse fair in Europe: Roncaglione tells its story through the faces and everyday gestures of the people who bring it to life.
Silvia Missura was named winner of URBAN Photo Arena, the section for photographers under 35, with the image The Shadow Leap, in the final held during the ceremony. Shamim Ul Islam (Echoes of the shipyard) came second, while Ali Zolghadri (Between the Rupture) and Nicolò Edoardo Pais (Into the Blue) were joint third. The Best Voter award went to Brunella Pastore. The exhibition is on display in Sala Arturo Fittke until 3 November.
Silvia Missura – The Shadow Leap
URBAN Photo Awards 2026 / Final Ranking
SEE PHOTOSPhotographer of the Year
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Photographer of the Year | Alexandr Shilov | Untitled |
Single Photos – STREETS
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Md Enamul Kabir | Unanswered |
| Honourable Mention | Perry Pall | Dallas, Texas |
| Honourable Mention | Gianpaolo La Paglia | The Trousers Man |
| Honourable Mention | Ewa Laskowska | Toxic winter swimming |
| Remarkable Reward | Pavel Skaev | Untitled |
| Remarkable Reward | Ilan ben Yehuda | Tuk- tuk driver |
| Remarkable Reward | Janusz Jurek | A lady with a dog |
| Remarkable Reward | Vittorio Fabianelli | Angel |
| Remarkable Reward | Dipanjan Chakraborty | Ghat of Kolkata |
| Remarkable Reward | Mateusz Kuca | Line Dance |
| Remarkable Reward | Vittorio Ricci | Breakfast time |
| Remarkable Reward | Maya Mohan | Steel Birds and Street Dreams |
| Remarkable Reward | Remy Pinaton | Couleur de vie(lle) |
Single Photos – PEOPLE
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Alexandr Shilov | Untitled |
| Honourable Mention | Shyjith Onden Cheriyath | Dual Realities |
| Honourable Mention | Mauro De Bettio | Venice of Africa |
| Honourable Mention | David-Leonardo Antal | The Flautist |
| Remarkable Reward | Seyit Konyali | Frozen Dinner |
| Remarkable Reward | Ms. Happy Mukherjee | Where Playtime Becomes Survival |
| Remarkable Reward | Daniel Ramos | Untitled |
| Remarkable Reward | Sourav Das | In Jharia’s Fire, Both Earth and Mothers Weep |
| Remarkable Reward | Fernando Lucianetti | Free beach |
| Remarkable Reward | Matteo Rea | Hold me, don’t leave me alone |
| Remarkable Reward | Antonio Denti | Face of Man |
Single Photos – SPACES
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Martin Wacker | Converging Paths at Triangeln |
| Honourable Mention | Stéphane Gervais De Rouville | Love and Hate |
| Honourable Mention | Mustafa Binol | Farmland |
| Remarkable Reward | Yevhen Kostiuk | Give me the ball, no time to explain! |
| Remarkable Reward | Simone Parigi | GPL |
| Remarkable Reward | Pawel Zygmunt | The Geometry of Passage |
| Remarkable Reward | Pietro Abbagnato | Electric Horizon |
| Remarkable Reward | Alex Polli | The bird |
Single Photos – CREATIVE
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1st place | Laura Sales | What we do in the shadows |
| Honourable Mention | Alireza Bagheri Sani | Minimal Cargo |
| Honourable Mention | Elena Paraskeva | Untitled |
| Remarkable Reward | Valeria Ciardulli | Parapetto |
| Remarkable Reward | Shabnam Maleki | Flying carpet |
| Remarkable Reward | Paolo Dellepiane | Tricolor threats |
Projects & Portfolios
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Michelle Sank | Burnthouse Lane |
| Honourable Mention | Shunta Kimura | Groundswell |
| Honourable Mention | Sergei Stroitelev | Behind The Surface Of Addiction |
| Honourable Mention | Bouwe Brouwer | The Great Escape |
Mark Power Special Prize – Beyond the Surface
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner – exhibition | Katerina Kouzmitcheva | The Colour Beneath the Grey |
| Winner – exhibition | Federico Possati | The Archeological Bazaar |
| Winner – exhibition | Michelle Sank | Burnthouse Lane |
Premio Musei Civici
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Michele Zousmer | Holding On |
URBAN Book Award
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Yuji Haikal | Why Aren’t You Taking Photos Anymore? |
| Honourable Mention | Ludovit Graus | Cuban diaries |
| Honourable Mention | Francisco Ubilla | Corners of Geometry |
| Honourable Mention | Rudy Gadeyne | A Book of Man |
URBAN Press Award
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Lorenzo Roncaglione | Appleby Horse Fair – Portraits of a Tradition in Motion |
URBAN Photo Arena
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Silvia Missura | The Shadow Leap |
| 2nd place | Shamim Ul Islam | Echoes of the shipyard |
| Joint 3rd place | Nicolò Edoardo Pais | Into the Blue |
| Joint 3rd place | Ali Zolghadri | Between the Rupture |
| Best Voter | Brunella Pastore | Tra luce e struttura |
Patricia D. Richards Legacy Award
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Marcel van Beek | The Future was Extracted Here |
Artistic Sensitivity Award
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Da Miane | Movie |
Trieste Photo Days – EdilImpianti Prize
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| EdilImpianti Prize | Michelle Sank | Burnthouse Lane |
Trieste Photo Days – Online Project Selection
| Award | Photographer | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Richard Beaven | Gone. |
| Honourable Mention | Andrea Bernabini | The mark of water |
| Honourable Mention | Steve Blackwell | Two Beginnings and No End |
| Honourable Mention | Giacomo Fusaro | Atlas of the third Eden |
AWARDS
Thanks to our partners, all winners received a stele or sigillo handmade by Giorgio Celiberti, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, together with a handcrafted Stroppa camera strap.
FOWA offered a RICOH GR IIIx to the Photographer of the Year and a PENTAX 17 to each of the winners of Projects & Portfolios, the Book Award, the URBAN Press Award, and URBAN Photo Arena (Under 35).
Think Tank Photo awarded the winners five backpacks and camera bags: a FocusPoint 30L to the Photographer of the Year, a DarkLight 25L to Projects & Portfolios, a PhotoCross 14L to the Book Award, a BackLight Sprint to URBAN Photo Arena, and a TurnStyle 10 to the URBAN Press Award.
The Projects & Portfolios winner will also have a solo exhibition at Trieste Photo Days 2027, while the winning Book Award project will be produced and published by URBAN.
Credits
URBAN Photo Awards 2026 is promoted by the cultural associations dotART and Exhibit Around APS, with the valuable support of the partners, institutions, and friends we thank below.
We thank Comune di Trieste for the special exhibition prize Premio Musei Civici at the Civico Museo Sartorio. URBAN Photo Arena is organised in collaboration with the Municipality of Trieste through PAG – Progetto Area Giovani (Youth Area Project).
Special thanks to all our Partners
Main Partner: Trieste Photo Days
Technical Partners: Fowa, Ricoh, Pentax, Cullmann, SmallRig, Think Tank Photo, Krakow School of Art and Fashion Design, Stroppa
Press Partners: Il Fotografo
And to all the members of the 2026 jury: 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 Ricker, Mattia Li Puma, Abdelrahman Alkahlout, Dawn Eagleton, Nicola D’Orta, Alexander Bronfer, Jonathan Jasberg, Rarindra Prakarsa, Jeoffrey Guillemard, Manolo Ty, Siegfried Hansen, and Natela Grigalashvili.
