• "In biology, regeneration is the process of renewal, restoration and tissue growth that makes genomes, cells, organisms and ecosystems resilient to natural fluctuations or events that cause disturbance or damage" (Wikipedia).

The first records of the word regeneration date back to the 14th century. It originally comes from the Latin verb regenerāre, meaning 'to bring forth again'. The prefix 're-' means 'again' and 'generation' means "the act of producing or bringing into existence."

In the natural world, regeneration takes place in many different ways. Some plants can regrow from a single part -- like when you plant a chunk of carrot or potato and it sprouts again. Some simple organisms, like the hydra, can regenerate even after being torn apart.

Participants are invited to present a project which, starting from a traumatic event - caused by human or natural disasters - highlights and describes a regeneration process for a person or a community or an urban space or an ecosystem.

• The award grants the winner with the production of the photobook to be published by Artphilein Editions and an exhibition at one of the De Pietri Artphilein Foundation spaces in Lugano/Paradiso, Switzerland.

• Founded in 2006, Artphilein Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to contemporary art and photography by collectors Gianfranco and Caterina De Pietri. Main activities: promotion of contemporary photography, a publishing house of artists' books and photo-books, a public library, two exhibition spaces, Focus and La Piscina.

  Artphilein = Friend of Art Art as commitment and inspiration to negotiate the challenges of the contemporaneity and to imagine a possible future