Now in its 30th year, the annual Deutsche Börse Photography Prize is awarded for an exhibition or book that has been deemed to have made a significant contribution to photography in the previous 12 months.

In the 2026 shortlist, we see collaborative photographic projects, long-term investigative journalism using documentary photography, installations, video and sound pieces, alongside experimental conceptual photography – in short, something for everyone.

Themes among the work include exile and memory, gender inequalities and advocacy, identity and belonging, subculture and class and contemporary life and perhaps most interestingly, the blurring of the boundaries between fact and fiction in photography.

All of the shortlisted artists are on display in London at The Photographer’s Gallery until 7 June 2026, while the winner of the overall prize will be announced on 14 May.

The overall winner takes home a hefty £30,000 prize, while the other shortlisted artists will each receive £5,000 for their efforts.

In the running for this year’s award are:

Jane Evelyn Atwood for her publication Too Much Time / Trop de Peines, which is a revised bilingual reprint of works originally published in 2000 and 2024.

Stemming from a ten-year investigation into women imprisoned in forty facilites across nine countries in the 1990s, her work documents the lived realities of female inmates and their often lack of access to hygienic facilities, adequate healthcare and vast inequalities compared to male inmates.

The work is intimate in black and white, and is a cause that Atwood has become passionate about – especially as the global female prison population has risen dramatically since 2000.

Black and white photograph of prisoners stretching in a prison-yard.
Jane Evelyn Atwood Exercise class in the yard of the prison. Maison D’Arrêt de Femmes, Rouen, France, 1990. © Jane Evelyn Atwood
Black and white photograph of a toddler walking along a prison corridor.
Jane Evelyn Atwood This fourteen-month-old boy spent his life in prison with his mother and her cellmate. Centre Pénitentiaire Les Baumettes, Marseille, France, 1991. © Jane Evelyn Atwood
Black and white photograph of a woman sat on a prison bed staring into the distance.
Jane Evelyn Atwood Prisoner in the prison workshop, Centre Pénitentiaire Les Baumettes, Marseille, France, 1991 © Jane Evelyn Atwood

Next on the shortlist is Weronika Gęsicka, for the work “Encyclopaedia”, published in November 2024 by BLOW UP PRESS.

This work explores the occurrence of fake entries intentionally inserted into encyclopaedias, dictionaries and lexicons. Originally intended to catch copyright violations, or for editors to have fun with a text, these false facts have over time eroded trust in once thought of trustworthy sources.

Gęsicka interprets the fake entries by using manipulated stock photos and AI-generated imagery, to fully highlight the tension between truth and invention, as well as the blurred line between fact and fiction. It serves as a reminder that “knowledge” isn’t always as stable and objective as it should be.

Colour photograph of a woman’s head with tubes stuck around her head.
Weronika Gęsicka Lipid therapy From the series ‘Encyclopaedia’, 2023-2025 Courtesy of the artist and Jednostka Gallery
Black and white photograph of three people in masquerade costumes walking along a pathway.
Weronika Gęsicka Soyombo Revival Society From the series ‘Encyclopaedia’, 2023-2025 Courtesy of the artist and Jednostka Gallery

Amak Mahmoodian is shortlisted for the exhibition One Hundred and Twenty Minutes which took place at the Bristol Photo Festival at the end of 2024.

The work here spans poetry, text, drawing, video and photography and looks at the emotional and psychological landscapes when in exile. Created over six years, Mahmoodian worked with 16 collaborators from 14 countries, with long-term conversations focusing on recurring dreams and the effects of exile on memory and identity.

Mahmoodian is from Iran, but has been based in the UK since 2010, unable to return to her homeland. For that reason, she has a personal connection to the work – with the concept of “dreams” offering a vital connection to a lost home and a lost family. The title of the exhibition refers to the amount of time it’s said that people dream per night.

Colour photograph of a two unidentified people holding up a red dress.
Amak Mahmoodian One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, 2019-2024. Courtesy of the artist
Black and white photograph of a woman behind a net curtain, holding two baby dolls in each arm.
Amak Mahmoodian One Hundred and Twenty Minutes, 2019-2024. Courtesy of the artist

Lastly, Rene Matić is shortlisted for the exhibition AS OPPOSED TO THE TRUTH, shown at CCA Berlin in Germany in late 2024 and early 2025.

This project uses snapshot, diaristic photography to capture everyday moments. These images combined with film and sound, plus collected objects to build a portrait of contemporary life.

Colour photograph of a person sat on a chair staring into the camera.
Detail: Rene Matić Feelings Wheel, 2024 – 2025 Installation of glass-framed photo series and sound piece, Dimensions variable. © Rene Matić. Courtesy the Artist and Arcadia Missa, London.
Colour photograph of an elderly person walking along the street past a shuttered shop front that has “STEAL FROM THE RICH” spray-painted in front.
Detail: Rene Matić Feelings Wheel, 2024 – 2025 Installation of glass-framed photo series and sound piece, Dimensions variable. © Rene Matić. Courtesy the Artist and Arcadia Missa, London.

The exhibition runs at The Photographer’s Gallery until 7 June. Tickets are £10/£7 concessions and it also includes entry to other exhibitions currently being shown at the gallery. Visit the gallery website for more details including opening times.

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