"This is what I hope to discover: Authentic over perfect" Born on a small Dutch island, Paul Cupido (b. 1972) grew up surrounded by nature and the sea. The rhythms of the seasons, the tides and the moon continue to inform his visual language. Cupido graduated cum laude from the Fotoacademie Amsterdam in 2017. He has published several artist books, including Searching for Mu (2017), Continuum (2019) and 4 a.m. (2021), in collaboration with graphic designer Akiko Wakabayashi. His work is presented internationally at major photography fairs, including Paris Photo and AIPAD New York, as well as festivals such as Les Rencontres d'Arles and InCadaqués Photo Festival. In 2017 he received the Hariban Jury Award and was the inaugural artist in residence of the Château Palmer & Leica Instants program. Cupido's work centres on the concept of Mu, a philosophical notion of emptiness understood as a space of potential. Drawing from nature and the human body, he explores themes of transience, love, time and mortality. His images often move between the intimate and the expansive, balancing presence and absence. Image © Koos Breukel

"For me a strong photograph sits somewhere between the real and the imagined." Jennifer Latour is a self taught artist based in Vancouver, Canada. Latour has built a career working internationally in special effects makeup for film and television since 2003 and began practicing photography in 2006. Her love for photography, cinema, sculpture, and creating characters runs through all her work, and has heavily influenced her Bound Species series. In an era of AI and sophisticated digital tools, one of the most impressive elements of Jennifer's practice is that each species is created by hand. Temporary organic sculptures which she then photographs either in her studio or sometimes even releasing her creations back into the wild. Jennifer Latour began creating her species in her studio during the first lockdown back in 2020. She uses her skills as a special effects makeup artist to construct 'new species' of plants from locally sourced fresh flowers and plants. Each piece is its own delicate and surreal creature, a beautiful Frankenstein of sorts. You can explore her work via our website.

Elisa Medde is an art historian specializing in photography and visual culture. An editor, curator, writer, and educator, Medde has served on international juries including the Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award, the Prix Elysée, Deutsche Börse Prize and the MAST Photography Grant on Industry and Work. Her writings have appeared in FlashArt, PhotoEye, Time Magazine, Foam Magazine, Something We Africans Got, YET Magazine, Aperture PhotoBook Review, the British Journal of Photography, and in various artists' books. From 2012 to 2023, she was editor-in-chief of Foam Magazine, a publication that received the Lucie Award for Best Photography Magazine twice. In 2023, she was granted the Royal Photographic Society Award for her outstanding career in photo editing. She is currently the director of the Foto Colectania Foundation in Barcelona, Spain. Image © Mohamad Abdouni

"As jurors for the OD Photo Prize since 2024... we aim to bring a discerning eye and a commitment to artistic excellence. Drawing from our experience as curators for the InCadaqués Photo Festival, we are also dedicated to discovering new and exciting works and talents that push the boundaries of photographic expression." Olivia Seigneurgens and Valmont Achalme are the dynamic duo behind the InCadaqués Photo Festival, Spain, where they've been leading the way as directors for the past eight years. Their passion and innovative ideas have not only transformed the festival into a must-visit event for photography enthusiasts but also led them to launch the InPhoto Festival App in Arles, France, this summer 2024. This new platform, dedicated to fine art photography, highlights their dedication to making photography more accessible and creating a useful tool for the photography community.

"The prize has become one of the most exciting places to discover fresh voices. Working with these artists is a privilege." Tom Page is an experienced gallerist and the founder of Open Doors Gallery, specialising in contemporary photographic art. After some years working at commercial galleries here in London where he worked across a broad range of roles [Sales specialist, Designer, Digital manager] Tom felt not enough was being done to help the next generation of photographic artists coming through. Starting simply as an instagram account, Open Doors shone a light on some of these talents coming through. OD soon became a respected platform for discoveries worldwide hosting regular takeovers from curators, institutions and artists as well as popping-up with group exhibitions across London. Today the gallery regularly attends art fairs at home and abroad and represents a growing roster of award winning artists. Frustrated with photography's 'ghettoisation', Tom is determined to continue disrupting the industry and to place photography firmly at the center of the conversation surrounding art. As a failed artist, Tom also knows the importance of being 'seen' by the right people and managing the ebbs and flows of career. He takes pride in working closely with artists, curators and publishers from all over the world to realise their projects and exhibitions. This annual open call has become a vital portal from which to continue the gallery's mission.

“What we’re looking for is necessity and singularity: a photograph that feels like it had to be made, by someone whose way of seeing you'd recognise again.” Homecoming Gallery was founded in 2020 to create a platform for exceptional voices in contemporary art—voices often overlooked and underrepresented. Founders Karlijn Bozon and Nadine Van Asbeck, drawing on their backgrounds in performing arts, fashion, and art direction, focus on spotlighting artists who follow unconventional paths, often presenting self-taught talents from diverse global contexts. Envisioned as a "homecoming" for artists, the gallery offers both a physical space and a collaborative network of co-curators to support each artist’s practice. Focused on building strong profiles for a small, curated roster of emerging talent, its reach extends beyond exhibitions through international pop-ups, art fairs, and monograph publications. Led by an all-female team, the gallery is particularly attuned to female artists and themes of womanhood, shaping a significant part of its programming and guiding its evolving vision. Image © Rebeca Valls

"I'm drawn to perspectives that make me want to know more, where the point of view feels singular enough that no one else could have made that work." Wesley Verhoeve is a photographer, curator, and writer based in Amsterdam. His work focuses on people and community, with projects spanning editorial, commercial, and documentary photography. His images have appeared in the New York Times, National Geographic Traveler, and Wired Magazine. He publishes Process, a weekly photography newsletter read by 19,000 subscribers across 154 countries. As founding curator of the Projected series at the International Center of Photography in New York, he organized 96 exhibitions featuring over 300 photographers from 53 countries. His longform community documentary projects include Vliegwiel, Creatives In/AMS, and The Best Medicine. His monograph NOTICE was published by New Style Publishing in 2021, followed by NOTICE Journal, Volume 1 in 2024, and a new body of work made in Ukraine will be presented in NOTICE Journal, Volume 2 due in October 2026. Image © Ashley Batz

“As always when looking at work, I’m looking for an authentic, unique visual language… I’m looking for authorship.” Robert Morat (b.1971) is a German gallerist and curator and the owner and director of Robert Morat Galerie in Berlin. The gallery was opened in 2004 in Hamburg and is mainly showing a program of contemporary photography and lens based media. The gallery is a regular exhibitor at international art fairs such as Paris Photo, Photo London or the New York Photography Show. In 2010, Robert was elected on to the board of directors at AIPAD, the Association of International Photography Art Dealers in New York. In 2015, the gallery moved from Hamburg to Berlin where it is now located in the Mitte art-district and continues to show a program of exhibitions by represented artists, book launches and artist talks. Image © Roger Eberhard