Paper Photo Award 2025
competition results

On October 17, 2025, the jury of the Paper Photo Award 2025 competition met in Katowice. The jury decided to accept 33 publications for the post-competition exhibition, from which a shortlist of 6 publications was selected. Regardless of the shortlist, the jury members awarded five honorable mentions (each jury member had the right to select one honorable mention).

Paper Photo Award 2025 – main prize (PLN 10 000): Wet Paint by Studio Prokopiou

Paper Photo Award 2025 – shortlist (finalist of the competition):

1. Weronika Gęsicka – Encyclopaedia
2. Emilia Martin – I saw a tree bearing stones in the place of apples and pears
3. Gilles Mercier – L’élégance de vos absences / Vol.1 Comme un vivant porte-bonheur
4. Ela Polkowska – Splinter
5. Studio Prokopiou – Wet Paint
6. Magdalena Wysocka & Claudio Pogo – And Then There Was the Night

Individual honorable mentions from jury members for publications:

1. Już po by Natalia Cichosz – honorable mention from Jakub Dziewit
2. Waiting for the snow by Katarzyna Wąsowska & Marianne Wasowska – honorable mention from Katarzyna Łata
3. Not all bald men with beards are Javier Talavera by Javier Talavera – honorable mention from Adam Pańczuk
4. Historia Polski vol. 2 by Michała Sita – honorable mention from Rafał Siderski
5. Waiting for the snow by Katarzyna Wąsowska & Marianne Wasowska – honorable mention from Katarzyna Zolich

For a complete list of publications accepted for the exhibition, click here.

The jury consisted of Jakub Dziewit, Katarzyna Łata, Adam Pańczuk, Rafał Siderski, and Katarzyna Zolich. The winner of the competition and the honorable mentions were announced during the award ceremony on October 25, at 6:00 p.m., at the City of Gardens Gallery (Katowice, Plac Sejmu Śląskiego 2).

Archival information:

We invite you to submit your entries to the international Paper Photo Award 2025 competition dedicated entirely to photographic publications! Category: “Photobook”:

1. What publications can be submitted?
   1.1. We accept publications in the “photobook” category that have been published in paper form and are a separate, original artistic expression in which photography plays a primary role. The basic criterion for evaluation in the competition is how the artistic expression resonates in book form. The photographs in the project are not evaluated, but rather the photobook as a specific creative expression. The book may be published by a publishing house or self-published, provided that the print run is at least 30 copies.
   1.2. Publications published between January 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, are eligible for submission.
   
2. Awards
   1.1. Main prize: PLN 10,000! [approximately: 2300 EURO]
   1.2. Six photobooks will be shortlisted, and their authors will be invited to Katowice (Poland) for a meet-and-greet during the festival’s opening weekend, for which they will receive a gross remuneration of PLN 1,000. In addition, the festival will provide them with accommodation during the opening weekend.
   1.3. Each member of the jury will award their own individual honorary distinction.
   1.4. Approximately 30 photobooks will be presented as part of the Paper Photo Award 2025 exhibition at Galeria Pusta in Katowice.
   
3. Dates
   1.1. Start of the competition: September 5, 2025
   1.2. End of book submission: October 15, 2025 (the date of delivery of the book is decisive!)
   1.3. Announcement of the shortlist: by October 17, 2025
   1.4. Announcement of the winner and opening of the post-competition exhibition: October 25, 2025.
   
4. Submissions
   To submit a book, you must:
   4.1. Fill out the form available here
   4.2. Send a properly secured copy of the book by October 15, 2025 (the date of delivery is decisive!) to the following address: Katowice Miasto Ogrodów, plac Sejmu Śląskiego 2, 40-032 Katowice, POLAND (with the note “PPF” on the envelope).
   If you need to provide details for the courier, please provide the following: Katarzyna Łata, email: ppf@paperphoto.pl, tel. (+48) 505005240
   
5. The competition jury consists of:
   – Jakub Dziewit (unContemporary Foundation),
   – Dr. Katarzyna Łata (Katowice City of Gardens / FotoArtProjekt Association),
   – Dr. Adam Pańczuk (Sputnik Photos),
   – Dr. Rafał Siderski (Department of Photography, UJD),
   – Dr. Katarzyna Zolich (Małe Nakłady Foundation).
   
6. Full contest rules: click here