WARS Photography Award is pleased to announce the fourth edition of the prize dedicated to photojournalists who document wars, conflicts, and their consequences. Following the successful editions of 2019, 2021, and 2023, the WARS Photography Award once again aims to support photographers working in hostile environments, providing a critical insight into the impact of conflicts on communities. The winners will be announced on the websites www.atlanteguerre.it and www.unimondo.org and on the social media channels of the WARS Photography Award linked to these two sites. The first-place winner will receive a cash prize of €2,000, while two runners-up will receive €1,000 each. The winning projects will also be exhibited in a WARS touring exhibition at Gallerie Piedicastello in Trento in spring 2026. All entries will be reviewed by a panel of experts, who will select the winners based on the quality and journalistic impact of the work submitted. The judging process will be fair and impartial, and the jury's decisions will be final. The WARS Photography Award recognizes the importance of visual storytelling in documenting the consequences of wars and conflicts. The prize aims to support photojournalists who use their cameras to inform the public about these realities.

We look forward to receiving photo reportages that convey the raw and emotional dimension of conflicts and to celebrating the winners of this year's edition.

HOW TO ENTER

The “War Stories” category is dedicated to photography that documents wars, conflicts, and their consequences. It aims to shed light on the harsh realities of conflict and capture the suffering of civilians caught in the midst of war, honoring the work of photojournalists who risk their lives to reveal the human impact of these events.

Submissions may depict the physical destruction and devastation caused by war, as well as the emotional toll on individuals and families. They may also explore the broader consequences of conflict, such as displacement, poverty, and the long-term effects on affected communities.

The WARS Photography Award accepts photo reportages consisting of 15–20 images on a single subject related to wars and conflicts. At least 10 of the images must have been taken after 1 January 2024. Long-term projects are also welcome. Both published and unpublished stories are eligible.

RULES

Art.1 - Terms and conditions

The photos submitted to the contest must faithfully represent reality and must not be staged or manipulated. Portraits are allowed, but it must be clearly indicated in the captions (IPTC) that they are portraits. The deadline for submitting photos is 31 January 2026, via Picter. Both digital and analog photos are allowed (scanned and saved as specified in Article 3). Basic post-production is permitted, but the meaning of the photograph must not be altered through digital post-production software. Photos may be in color or black and white, but files modified with sepia tones will not be accepted. Images generated, composed, or substantially modified using artificial intelligence (AI) tools — including, but not limited to, text-to-image generation, content-aware fill, or any other alteration that adds, removes, or significantly changes elements of the original photograph — are not accepted and will be disqualified. It is not permitted to add or remove subjects or objects from the images, and photos must not be distorted. Only single exposures are allowed, and photomontages are not accepted. In case of doubts regarding the authenticity of the images, the contest organizers reserve the right to request the original (RAW) files from the entrant. Failure to provide the original files within four days of the formal request may result in disqualification from the contest.

Art.2 - Photography Specifics

Photos submitted must be saved in .jpg format, with a minimum resolution of 3000 px on the long side and a maximum file size of 5 MB. For color images, the use of the Adobe RGB color profile is recommended; for black and white images, the grayscale Gamma 2.2 is recommended. Photos must not contain any identifying information about the photographer, such as name, agency, or publication. All relevant information must instead be included in the image metadata (IPTC). Each photo must be accompanied by detailed journalistic information in English, answering the Five Ws: Who, What, When, Where, Why. These questions are essential to provide the basic context and key information about the photograph.

Art.3 - The Jury

As in every edition of the award, the jury is composed of leading figures in international photojournalism, including editors, established photojournalists, and recipients of prestigious prizes. Over the years, the jury has included professionals such as François Khon, Carol Guzy, Kelli Grant, Laurence Geai, Manoocher Deghati, Maral Deghati, Philip Blenkinsop, and Rodrigo Abd.

For this edition, we are pleased to announce the following jury members:

• Diego Ibarra Sanchez, a Spanish photojournalist contributing to major international publications such as The New York Times and El País;
• Carol Korting, photo editor at Leica Fotografie International;
• Nicolò Filippo Rosso, an Italian photojournalist, Eugene Smith, and a World Press Photo recipient.

Renowned photojournalist Fabio Bucciarelli has served as the Artistic Director of the award and its exhibition since its inception, working alongside the WARS Award committee to oversee submissions and ensure the jury's impartiality. Journalist Raffaele Crocco, editor-in-chief of the Atlas of Wars and Conflicts in the World, is responsible for the organization of the award and serves as curator of the exhibition.

Art.4 - The Award

At the end of the selection process, the winner and the names of the two finalists will be announced on the websites www.atlanteguerre.it and www.unimondo.org. The winner will receive a cash prize of €2,000, and each of the two finalists will receive €1,000. The cash prize will be transferred to the winner within sixty (60) days of the announcement by the association "46 Parallelo" ETS. The winning projects will be presented in a touring exhibition, which will open in Trento, Italy, in spring 2026. The winner and the two finalists will also be featured in the forthcoming issue of the Atlas of Wars and Conflicts in the World.

Art.5 - Rights and Duties

The photographer must be the author and copyright holder of the images submitted. The photographer will retain ownership of the copyright of the photographs submitted. The winner and the two finalists agree to grant the association “46 Parallelo” ETS non-exclusive rights to use the images for communication on all media, including social media, online and print, and for the traveling exhibitions, for the Atlas of Wars and Conflicts and for all promotional activities, without additional compensation. The association “46 Parallelo” ETS guarantees that it will always credit the author of the photographs and will not grant third parties the right to use the images outside the contexts and publications mentioned above. The finalists of the WARS award undertake to provide the association “46 Parallelo” ETS with high-quality images suitable for large-format prints for the touring exhibition.

Additional information

The association "46° Parallelo" ETS was founded in Trento, Italy, in 2008 by a group of journalists and reporters dedicated to documenting conflict areas. Over nearly two decades, the association has participated in numerous educational and journalistic projects in schools, universities, and museums, including talks, lectures, photography exhibitions, films, and documentaries. 46° Parallelo ETS is also the owner and publisher of the annual publication The Atlas of Wars and Conflict, a comprehensive map of global conflicts produced in collaboration with Amnesty International, UNHCR, and MSF. For more information, please visit www.atlanteguerre.it. The WARS Photography Award is a project carried out in collaboration with Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino.

Fabio Bucciarelli is an Italian photographer and journalist whose visceral images of global events and their humanitarian consequences over the past 15 years have established him as a leading international photojournalist. He works with major international publications such as La Repubblica, Die Zeit, and The New York Times, has contributed to the Atlas of Wars since 2010, and has received numerous awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, multiple World Press Photo awards, and thirteen Picture of the Year International awards, including Photographer of the Year in 2019. He is the co-creator and artistic director of WARS and Intersos NGO.
Raffaele Crocco is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker, creator and director of the Atlas of Wars and Conflicts in the World, and president of 46° Parallelo ETS. Former head of news and anchor for TGR Rai, he has reported for major Italian outlets on conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Central America, and the Near East, and investigated far-right underground networks in the 1990s. He founded several publications, including Peacereporter with Gino Strada in 2003 and the Atlas of Wars in 2009. Since 2021 he has been Director of Unimondo. Author of numerous books, he has also curated sixteen major photographic and multimedia exhibitions. Together with Fabio Bucciarelli, he is the co-creator of the WARS Award.

Previous Winners

In the WARS 2019 edition, the first prize was awarded to Laurence Geai for her powerful work on the Mosul conflict, with images of civilians trapped in clashes with ISIS. The runners-up in that edition were Manu Brabo, a Spanish photojournalist, for his work on the conflict in Ukraine, and Dar Yasin, whose work on Kashmir was also recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.

In the WARS 2021 edition, there were two sections: one dedicated exclusively to the pandemic and its effects, and the other, as always, focused on work produced in conflict zones. For the COVID section, the winner was Michele Spatari with No Place Like Hope: the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa. The two runners-up were Rodrigo Abd with Naked Peru and Yan Boechat with Death in the Amazon. In the War Stories section, the winner was Giles Clarke with Yemen; Conflict+Chaos, and the two runners-up were Finbarr O'Reilly with Tigrai Crisis and Stepanov Anatolii with War in Ukraine.

The third edition of WARS saw a notable increase both in the quantity and quality of entries, with more than 3,000 photographs from 47 countries. The winning project by Siegfried Modola, Inside Myanmar's Armed Uprising, offers a powerful insight into the ongoing war between Karen rebel groups and the Myanmar government. Santi Palacios, a Spanish photojournalist known for his long-term work on the Mediterranean migration crisis, turned his lens to Ukraine in 2022. His series The Bucha Massacre reveals his rare ability to depict human suffering with depth, respect, and emotional precision. Finally, the project by Federico Ríos, Paths of Desperate Hope: Crossing the Darién Gap, follows thousands of migrants from South America, Afghanistan, and the Middle East along one of the world's most dangerous routes, between Colombia and Panama, as they risk everything in search of a new life.

https://www.atlanteguerre.it/winner-2023/