About the Prix Pictet award

The Prix Pictet is the world’s leading award for photography and sustainability. It was founded in 2008 by the Pictet Group to draw global attention to the critical issue of sustainability.

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The numbers

Eleven themes, countless perspectives

11 cycles since 2008

100,000 Swiss Francs awarded to each winner

150+ exhibitions and events across the world

A global community

350+ nominators worldwide

5,600+ photographers nominated

1.5 million+ exhibition visitors 

How the Prix Pictet cycle works

Every second year, the Prix Pictet launches a new cycle that promotes discussion and debate on issues of environmental and social sustainability. It starts with one word (the theme) and concludes at the end of a global exhibition tour.
Theme revealed at Rencontres d’Arles

The new cycle’s theme is
revealed at the Rencontres
d’Arles every two years.

Nominators nominate photographers

Each nominator proposes between one and five photographers whose work aligns with the current cycle’s theme.

Nominated photographers are invited to submit their work for consideration by the independent jury

Jury shortlists twelve

The independent jury reviews submissions and creates a shortlist of twelve photographers.

The shortlist is announced at the next Rencontres d’Arles.

Winner announced at the V&A

From the shortlist, the jury selects a winner. The winner is announced at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London.

The ceremony marks the opening of the exhibition of the twelve shortlisted photographers.

Winners of the Prix Pictet since 2008

Upcoming exhibitions

11 cycles since 2008

2008–2026
18 years, 11 cycles

For each Prix Pictet cycle, a bespoke trophy, inspired by a location associated with the prize, is designed and made by silversmith Vicki Ambery-Smith and presented to the winner at the award ceremony.

2008
Water

Launch of the first Prix Pictet - theme Water

Kofi Annan appointed Honorary President of Prix Pictet

Financial Times becomes global media partner

Prix Pictet awards exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris

Benoît Aquin's The Chinese Dust Bowl wins inaugural award

teNeues publishes first Prix Pictet book

Michael Fried publishes seminal Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before
Polaroid discontinues production of all instant film products, citing the rise of digital imaging technology
2009–2010
Earth

Nadav Kander wins Prix Pictet Earth for his series Yangtze - the Lang River

Munem Wasif completes first Prix Pictet Commission in Bangladesh

First shortlist presentation at Les Rencontres d'Arles photography festival

First Prix Pictet touring exhibitions in Eindhoven, Thessaloniki and Hong Kong

Ed Kashi completes second Prix Pictet Commission in Madagascar

Tate, London, appoints its first photography curator, Simon Baker
Kodak drops Kodachrome film
Polaroid instant film is relaunched
Instagram launches
The global quantity of camera phones exceeds a billion
2011
Growth

Mitch Epstein's American Power wins Prix Pictet Growth

Collaboration with Whitechapel Gallery, London, begins with a series of conversations on photography

Christie's New York sells Andreas Gursky's photograph Rhein II for $4.3 million, the most expensive photograph ever sold at auction at the time
2012–2013
Power

Luc Delahaye wins Prix Pictet Power

Chris Jordan completes third Prix Pictet Commission in Kenya

Saatchi Gallery stages first Prix Pictet awards exhibition in London

Prix Pictet announces partnership with the V&A, and Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Simon Norfolk completes fourth Prix Pictet Commission in Afghanistan

The Photographers' Gallery, London, reopens in a new purpose-designed space
Annual number of mobile phone photographs exceeds those created with cameras
Media Space opens at Science Museum, London
Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year is 'selfie'
Sebastião Salgado's Genesis opens at the Natural History Museum, London
2014
Consumption

Michael Schmidt's Lebensmittel wins Prix Pictet Consumption

First Prix Pictet awards exhibition at the V&A

Juan Fernando Herrán awarded final Prix Pictet Commission in Colombia

Les Rencontres d'Arles stages first Prix Pictet Laureates exhibition

Prix Pictet Consumption at the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City, attracts a record audience of over 100,000

175th anniversary of the invention of photography by Louis Daguerre and, separately, Henry Fox Talbot
SFMOMA, San Francisco, announces major expansion with new Pritzker Center for Photography
2015–2016
Disorder

Valérie Belin wins Prix Pictet Disorder for her series Still Life

First Prix Pictet awards exhibition at Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

Tomoko Kikuchi's series The River wins inaugural Prix Pictet Japan Award

Works of the Prix Pictet Laureates exhibited in Moscow

Photo London launches at Somerset House
2017–2018
Space

Richard Mosse wins Prix Pictet Space for his series Heat Maps

Lieko Shiga's series Blind Date wins second Prix Pictet Japan Award

Les Rencontres d'Arles stages second Laureates exhibition and announcement of eighth Prix Pictet theme

teNeues publishes special edition ten to mark first decade of the prize

Paris Photo celebrates twentieth anniversary
130 years of National Geographic Magazine
Growth shortlister Taryn Simon awarded third Photo London Master of Photography
The V&A opens Photography Centre Phase 1
Three-time Prix Pictet shortlister Edward Burtynsky awarded the fourth Photo London Master of Photography
Collection of Royal Photographic Society, London, transferred to the V&A
2019–2020
Hope

Joana Choumali's series Ca va aller wins the eighth Prix Pictet

Hope shortlist announced at Les Rencontres d'Arles

Exhibition tour begins at Hillside Forum, Tokyo, with announcement of third Prix Pictet Japan Award

Prix Pictet publishes Confinement, a response to the pandemic by artists previously shortlisted for the award

Tate Britain presents major retrospective of Sir Don McCullin
Diane Arbus: In the Beginning, staged by MoMA, New York, adapted for Hayward Gallery, London
Les Rencontres d'Arles celebrates fiftieth anniversary
2021–2022
Fire

Sally Mann wins Prix Pictet Fire for her series Blackwater

Gestalten publish Collage, featuring work by contemporary female photographers nominated and shortlisted for the Prix Pictet

Ai Iwane wins third Prix Pictet Japan award

The V&A announces The Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project
Frank Gehry-designed LUMA Foundation building opens in Arles
Man Ray's 1924 image Le Violon d'Ingres fetches $12.4 million at Christie's New York, a new record for a photograph
2022–2023
Human

Gauri Gill wins Prix Pictet Human

Survey exhibition of work by previously nominated photographers opens at International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva

Photography Centre Phase 2 opens at the V&A
2025–2026
Storm

The V&A confirmed to host the next five cycles of the Prix Pictet and name gallery in Photography Centre The Pictet Gallery

Nominator panel expanded to more than 350 experts in visual arts

Getty Images sues Stability AI in landmark copyright case in London
Photo London celebrates tenth anniversary
Sebastião Salgado dies aged 81