CEWE PHOTO AWARD 2026

© Gregory Vergne

“The CEWE Photo Award and Festival La Gacilly-Baden Photo together
embody the power of photography to tell stories and move people.
For Austria, this partnership represents a strong cultural
commitment to the language of images,
with a significant international impact.” 

Michael Pollaschak

Every year, the declared goal of Festival La Gacilly-Baden Photo is once again to showcase works that make the festival’s values even more evident. CEWE has found a partner in the festival that lives these values daily and also makes them visible through the world’s largest photo competition.

The CEWE Photo Award 2025 set a new participation record with 656,738 submitted photos from 153 countries. Photographers of all experience levels – from amateur to professional – could submit their work in ten main categories, as well as for the first time in the new Young Talent Award category. The international jury, led by British photographer Christie Goodwin, selected the winners whose work best reflects creativity, emotion, and the diversity of life worldwide.

For the 2025 festival, festival director and CEWE Photo Award jury member Lois Lammerhuber and Michael Pollaschak, Director of Marketing CEWE Austria, decided to showcase the 11 category winners: Macro & Close-up: Danlock by Hasan Baglar (Cyprus), who was also named overall winner; Street Photography: The Beautiful Game by Mike Taylor (UK); Cooking & Food: Traditional Drink by Maizal Chaniago (Indonesia); Travel & Culture: Lazise Early Morning by Günter Kleber (Germany); Animals: Gato Na Janela by Gerson Antonio Toigo (Brazil); Landscapes: Into the Cave by Filip Hrebenda (Slovakia); Sports & Action: Between the Lines by Eric t’Kindt (Belgium); Architecture: P opular & I gnored by Yevhen Kostiuk (Ukraine); People: United Colors by Yadi Setiadi (Indonesia); Nature & Wildlife: Jungle Rule by Xiaoping Lin (China). And, for the first time, the Young Talent Award was given to Child Day by Gregory Vergne (France).

The special prize awarded by CEWE Photo Award jury member Lois Lammerhuber goes to the work Lachen by Claudia Hartmannsgruber. Also on display are 10 selected works by the 101 Austrian photographers who made it into the TOP 1000: Werner Längle, Josef Friedhuber, Alfred Nevsimal, Bernhard Schubert, Alex Neumayer, Christoph Oberschneider, Christian Steiner, Piet Payer, Marcel Egger. Herbert Futterknecht even made it into the TOP 30. 

For the first time, the work of a category winner – Mike Taylor, The Beautiful Game, winner of the Street Photography category – has been turned into a solo exhibition. Hats off!