The Grand Press Foundation's photojournalism contest is organized annually since 2005.
An established Grand Press Photo tradition is that its jury is chaired by a World Press Photo laureate. This year, in the 21st edition of the contest, it was a Palestinian photojournalist living in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Salem. Jury members also included Poland's Wojciech Grzędziński, Weronika Kobylińska, Weronika Mirowska, and Andrzej Zygmuntowicz - as well as Netherlands' Marteen Schilt.
In total, their final selection consisted of 64 single photos (Singles), 12 reportages (Stories) and 5 documentary projects (Documentary Projects).
Freelancer Katarzyna Ewa Żak received the prestigious Photo of the Year award. Competition juror, Wojciech Grzędziński, told Polish Radio that this year the highest honour was awarded to a work combining artistic imagery, beautiful lighting, and a difficult story about loneliness in the background - all of which enchanted the jurors.
During the Thursday gala in Warsaw, awards were handed out separately for single works and photo stories in numerous categories - Current Events (winners: M. Berezowski, Filip Naumienko), People (P. Mroczkowska, K. Żak), Own Vision (T. Lazar), Climate / Responsibility (T. Tomaszewski, T. Grzyb), Sport (N. Farbicka, M. Słodkowski) and Culture (T. Padło).
Poland's photo Documentary Project of the Year (K. Piechowicz), as well as Photo Book of the Year ("Dancing Your Dream Awake" by A. Andrzejewska), were singled out as well. A separate Young Poland competition (A. Stefanowicz, A. Słowinski) was held for adult photographers who had not yet turned 26 - and for the very first time, the Internet Voters Prize was presented too (M. Topczewska).
A complete 2025 laureates list, as well as all the awarded works, can be found at grandpressphoto.pl
All in all, 296 works by 69 authors made it to the finals of Poland's 21st "Grand Press Photo" - and all these images will be presented to the public now at the post-competition exhibition. All the winning photos are also available for download at the competition's website.
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Source: IAR, PAP