From 27,846 submissions across 144 countries, the jury of the Global Peace Photo Award selected the work "The Cut" by Italian photographer Silvia Alessi as the Peace Image of the Year 2026. On September 24, 2026, the winners of the international Global Peace Photo Award competition were honored with the Alfred Fried Peace Medal at Vienna City Hall—marking the fourteenth edition of the event.
We present the winners of the Global Peace Photo Award 2026 on gosee.news:
Sesilia Shainidze from Georgia won the Children’s Category with "My Family," while Silvia Alessi from Italy took the Single Image category with "The Cut."
The winners in the Picture Series category are Antonio Denti (Italy) for "Il Mare in Mezzo (The Sea In Between)," Aleksandra Kossowska (Poland) for "The World by Touch," and Mahmoud Abu Hamda (Palestine) for "Wings of Childhood and Peace."
Peace Image of the Year 2026 – The main prize, "Peace Image of the Year 2026" (endowed with 6,000 euros), went to Italian photographer Silvia Alessi for her image "The Cut."
In a single photograph, Italian photographer Silvia Alessi has captured the act of standing up against the oppression of women, a moment of liberation, and the longing to make peace with life. The subjects are women who fled Afghanistan for Pakistan; each one defiantly and confidently holds a hairdryer up in the air. Among many other restrictions, the radical Islamist and ultra-reactionary Taliban—who have ruled Afghanistan since August 2021—have banned beauty salons for women. What was once one of the few professions open to Afghan women is now illegal. Young refugee women are now acquiring skills in Pakistan—practices and learning opportunities that have been wiped out in Afghanistan. They work in classrooms equipped with mirrors, hairdressing tools, and mannequin heads. Each hairdryer serves as a weapon in the fight for self-determination, identity, and visibility—for participation in society and the right to choose a profession. This is how jury member Peter-Matthias Gaede summarized the merit of Silvia Alessi’s work in his laudatory speech.
For the women she photographed, Alessi notes, peace is anything but an abstract concept; they hold a tool of self-empowerment in their hands. Silvia Alessi also received an award in the "Best Single Image" category. The prize money of 1,000 euros was provided by the Photographic Society (PHG), the second-oldest photographic society in the world.
The Children’s Peace Image of the Year 2026 – Eleven-year-old Sesilia Shainadze from Georgia won the "Children’s Peace Image of the Year 2026" award—which carries a prize of 1,000 euros—for the best peace-themed image in the children and youth category with her photograph titled "My Family."
The winning image depicts a scene in her grandmother’s house, where Sesilia—along with her grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousins, and dog—arranged a tableau entirely of her own devising. She loves the constant activity at her grandmother’s place—the cheerful, colorful atmosphere. Peace, she believes, is not merely the absence of war; it begins where families come together in warmth, love, care, and happiness. For Sesilia, this represents her current vision of a peaceful world. Sesilia lives in the port city of Batumi on the Georgian Black Sea coast, where she attends the fifth grade at the "Masterclass" school—a state educational institution that places a high priority on foreign language acquisition, the teaching of democratic values, and ecological responsibility.
The awards gala took place in the Coat of Arms Hall of Vienna City Hall—filled to capacity—at the invitation of Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig, who was represented by City Councillor and Member of the Vienna State Parliament Alexandra Rezaei.
The two main prizes were presented by Sonja Raus, a member of the Managing Board of the Vienna Insurance Group (VIG), a long-standing supporter of the Global Peace Photo Award: "Peace is an essential prerequisite for a future worth living. As an international insurance group that connects people across national borders, a peaceful and stable environment is a matter of great importance to us. That is why the Vienna Insurance Group has been committed to the Global Peace Photo Award for many years. We have supported the Children’s Peace Image category since its inception, and we have been the main sponsor of the entire award since 2022."
During the presentation of the 2026 Peace Image award, Sonja Raus was joined by Silvia Lammerhuber—Managing Owner of Edition Lammerhuber and also a long-standing sponsor of the award.
For Lois Lammerhuber—who initiated the Global Peace Photo Award alongside his wife, Silvia Lammerhuber, and has organized it from the very beginning—it was an honor to host this special evening for the fourteenth time and to express his gratitude to all the contributors and guests. In his opening speech, he reminded the audience that "peace is not the absence of war, but rather something I would describe as a 'fulfilled life'."
With all their creative and artistic passion, the photographers craft an ode to respecting the fragility of our world. They evoke the relationship between humanity and nature as a mission for responsible living. Through their talents, their perspectives, and their visions, they depict the social and ecological challenges that we can no longer afford to ignore. They captivate the viewer with photographs that travel straight from the eye to take root in the heart.
Christoph Jünger, Executive Director of UNICEF Austria, emphasized in his speech: "Children and young people often experience the impact of conflicts, crises, and social tensions most directly. It is therefore all the more important to give them the space to make their view of the world visible. The entries for the 'Children's Peace Image of the Year' impressively demonstrate how young people understand, experience, and shape peace. Their images remind us that peace is not merely the absence of war, but also encompasses security, social cohesion, respect, and the opportunity to develop freely. UNICEF Austria is proud to support this powerful statement for the voices of young people as a partner."
The other 2026 Alfred Fried Peace Medals, each accompanied by a cash prize of €1,000, were awarded to:
Antonio Denti (Italy) for "Il Mare in Mezzo (The Sea In Between)" – Making peace with the sea, which holds traumatic memories for many of them. This is the goal of an initiative near Rome designed to help female migrants from Africa and their Italy-born children overcome their fear of the water. For them, the Mediterranean was a life-threatening element when they had to cross it in flimsy vessels—a kind of second desert following their journey through the arid landscapes of North Africa. And, all too often, a deadly barrier between their homeland and their dreamed-of destination in Europe.
For Denti, born in 1972 in Catania, Sicily, this represents a modern-day odyssey—one he witnessed firsthand during the perilous sea crossing. Yet it is an epic without a poet; it is raw reality. Denti initially studied anthropology at the University of London—engaging with the science of human coexistence—before he began observing this life through the lens of a camera. Or rather, participating in it directly. He has worked for the Reuters agency in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and Gaza.
Aleksandra Kossowska (Poland) for "The World by Touch" – Growing up in a world that is invisible from the very start. Comprehending the world through touch, sounds, textures, and smells—with no light anywhere. Even Polish photographer Aleksandra Kossowska could not capture blindness in images. The star-like clouds she added to her black-and-white photographs of blind or severely visually impaired children at a school in Sebeta, Ethiopia—southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa—represent her attempt at a translation. They visualize an aura—perhaps flashes of insight that can occur without sight. Perhaps feelings. Perhaps an interaction between the inner and outer worlds. Or perhaps something difficult for sighted people to put into words.
The photographer views her work, in part, as an "invitation" for us to empathize—rather than look away. She says: "The world touches us when we touch it." To make the nature of her work tangible for the children, she perforated the photographs by hand with tiny dots and delicate lines. It was a small, gentle gesture—an offer to make peace with their disability, and perhaps, in time, with life itself.
Based in Warsaw, the 48-year-old photographer—who studied both archaeology and photography—is a co-founder of Poleczki.art, a center that combines a gallery, library, studio, and teaching spaces dedicated to contemporary photography.
Mahmoud Abu Hamda from Palestine for "Wings of Childhood and Peace" – At first glance, it may seem surprising to honor images of childhood in Gaza with a peace prize. After all, in recent years, there are few other places where children have suffered so terribly—enduring bombs, destruction, displacement, hunger, fear, injuries, and the loss of parents, siblings, and friends.
And yet—even here, amidst landscapes of rubble—one can see children laughing; a boy playing the violin; boys and girls swinging, romping, and sitting happily together; playing and asserting their lives in even the darkest of places. Palestinian photographer Mahmoud Abu Hamda shows in his moving images that childhood here has not completely vanished, nor been entirely extinguished. It simply has to assert itself under immense pressure—requiring bravery, and surely the ability to forget and suppress painful memories.
Mahmoud Abu Hamda titled this series of images "Wings of Childhood and Peace." Wings that—at least outwardly—are neither burnt nor broken, but capable of carrying one away, even out of war, and toward a place where human dignity remains inviolable.
Hamda, 36, trained in multimedia at the University College of Applied Sciences and later held a teaching position in photography at the University of Gaza. However, he subsequently experienced displacement and hardship within his own family and was himself injured during an Israeli Air Force bombing of a high-rise building. He photographed hunger while going hungry himself.
Magnum, a leading international photography agency, has already honored Hamda with a major publication. His work has been exhibited in cities such as Amsterdam, and in 2023, he received one of the prestigious Lucia Awards.
The prize money for the three award-winning photo series was made possible through the support of the Vienna Professional Photography Guild, represented by Eva Kelety—Guild Master of the Vienna Professional Photography Guild and Federal Guild Master of Professional Photography in Austria.
Keynote by Cornelius Obonya – The evening’s keynote address was delivered by Cornelius Obonya, actor, director, and Honorary Representative of UNICEF Austria: “Where do we begin? How about we acknowledge the fact that we—and our children—are facing a reality where a government on our continent, or right on its doorstep, has once again ordered an invasion of another country. And that there are people who have obeyed that order and are taking part. And that, once again, there are individual perpetrators through whom the ‘banality of evil’ is rearing its head.
I am reminded here of a brief surveillance camera clip from a Ukrainian business. It shows two Russian soldiers shooting two civilian employees of the company without warning. Shooting them in the back, mind you. People say we should negotiate with the aggressor. But what if he refuses? A peaceful order can only endure as long as everyone—and I mean *everyone*—abides by it.
Oh, and let us please tell our children that, in this country, one does not vote for parties that seek to submit to the aggressor. These people have only one image in their minds: that of the national leader riding through a river, bare-chested and with a rifle slung over his shoulder. They confuse power with strength, and peaceful deliberation with the elimination of human beings.
It is our duty to share every single truth with our children. They are capable of facing it. But only if we learn to face it ourselves—once again. My congratulations to everyone on this award. May the message contained within—and conveyed by—your images lead to better news emerging from the war zones of this planet.”
About the Global Peace Photo Award 2026 – A total of 27,846 entries from 144 countries were submitted for the Global Peace Photo Award 2026. The highest numbers of submissions came from India, the USA, China, Italy, Germany, France, Nigeria, Russia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. The entries were judged by a distinguished international jury. See: https://globalpeacephotoaward.org/jury
The Global Peace Photo Award is presented in cooperation with Edition Lammerhuber, the Photographic Society (PHG), UNESCO, the Austrian Parliament, the Association of Parliamentary Journalists, the International Press Institute (IPI), the World Press Photo Foundation, POY LATAM, APA – Austria Press Agency, the German Photographic Association (DGPh), UNICEF Austria, and the Vienna Insurance Group.
