Harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to issues of sustainability
The Prix Pictet is the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. It was founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group with the goal of harnessing the power of photography to draw global attention to the critical issue of sustainability.
Entry to the award is strictly by nomination. The Prix Pictet maintains a network of over 350 nominators, who include critics, curators, and other specialists in photography. Since the award’s inception, more than 5,600 photographers have been nominated.
For each cycle, 100,000 Swiss Francs is awarded to the photographer who, in the opinion of the independent jury, has produced a series of work that is both artistically outstanding and presents a compelling narrative related to the current cycle’s theme.
To date, there have been eleven cycles of the award, each with its own theme highlighting a particular facet of sustainability.
The previous winners are Benoit Aquin (Water), Nadav Kander (Earth), Mitch Epstein (Growth), Luc Delahaye (Power), Michael Schmidt (Consumption), Valérie Belin (Disorder), Richard Mosse (Space), Joana Choumali (Hope), Sally Mann (Fire), Gauri Gill (Human) and Alfredo Jaar (Storm).
Since 2008, the eleven cycles of the Prix Pictet have toured internationally with visitor numbers of over 1 million.
Award process
Each nominator proposes between one and five photographers. Nominated photographers are invited to submit their work for consideration by the independent jury.
The independent jury creates a shortlist of twelve photographers based on artistic and photographic merit, originality in conception and/or execution, relevance to the current cycle’s theme, addressing a pressing sustainability challenge, and ensuring their series is a unified and coherent body of work.
From the shortlist, the jury selects a winner. The winner is announced at a ceremony that accompanies the opening of an exhibition featuring the work of the twelve shortlisted photographers. The exhibition then tours internationally.
Nominators
The nominators for the Prix Pictet are a group of leading experts in the visual arts from around the world including directors of major museums and galleries as well as journalists and critics. They lead the global search for images of high artistic quality and narrative power and fit the theme of a particular cycle.
Jury
Each cycle, nominated photographers submit their work for consideration by the independent jury, which selects a shortlist of twelve based based on artistic and photographic merit, originality in conception and/or execution, relevance to the current cycle’s theme and coherence. From the shortlist, the jury selects a winner.
Human tour at Photo Museum Ireland, Dublin, March 2025. © Photo Museum Ireland
Advisory board
The Prix Pictet Advisory Board is a distinguished group of individuals who act as informal and occasional advisers to the Prix Pictet Executive.
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Ivan Pictet (Chair)
Senior Managing Partner, Pictet Group, 2005–10
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Lionel Barber
Editor, Financial Times, 2005–20
Trustee, Carnegie Foundation of New York
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Sir Peter Bazalgette
Chair, ITV, 2016–22
Chair, Arts Council England, 2013–17 -
Marcus Brauchli
Managing Editor, the Wall Street Journal 2007–08
Executive Editor, the Washington Post, 2008–12
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Christopher Brown
Director, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1998–2014
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Melanie Clore
Co-Founder, Clore Wyndham Fine Art, London, Co-Chair, Sotheby’s Europe, 2011–16
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Lady Elena Ochoa Foster
Founder and CEO, Ivorypress, Madrid, London
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Francis Hodgson
Professor in the Culture of Photography, University of Brighton, UK
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Maja Hoffmann
Founder and President, LUMA Foundation, Zurich
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Baroness Helena Kennedy, KC
Principal, Mansfield College,
University of Oxford, 2011–18
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Henry Kim
Director and CEO, The Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, 2012–20
Associate Vice Provost and Director, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University
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Fatima Maleki
UK-based collector
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Richard Misrach
Berkeley, California-based photographer
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Lady Alison Myners
Chair, Royal Academy Trust, London
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Sandy Nairne CBE
Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2002–15
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Fumio Nanjo
Director, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006–19
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Michael Nyman CBE
UK-based composer and artist
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Lord Palumbo
Chair, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1989-1994
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Nigel Pleming, KC
Barrister
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Thaddaeus Ropac
Founder, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, Salzburg, London, Seoul
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Ralph Rugoff, OBE
Director, Hayward Gallery, London
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Sir Charles Saumarez Smith, CBE
Secretary and Chief Executive, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2007–18
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Olga Sviblova
Founding Director, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow
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Sir John Tusa
Co-Chair, European Union Youth Orchestra Chair, University of the Arts, London, 2007–13
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Roxane Zand
Founder, ZandFineArts, London Deputy Chair, Sotheby’s Middle East, 2006–20
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Slavoj Žižek
International Director, Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, University of London
Prix Pictet Secretariat
The Prix Pictet Secretariat manages all aspects of the award process and the exhibition tour.
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Michael Benson
The Prix Pictet Secretariat
Candlestar Ltd
Somerset House
London
WC2R 1LA
+44 (0) 20 7759 1171
prixpictet@candlestar.co.uk
www.candlestar.co.uk
Advisors
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Stephen Barber
Chair, Prix Pictet
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Isabelle von Ribbentrop
Creative Adviser
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Francis Hodgson
Photography Adviser
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Leo Johnson
Sustainability Adviser