elc team
Athens Photo World (APW), the annual international photojournalism festival of Athens and one of the leading institutions for contemporary photography in Greece, returns for its eighth edition. Since 2019, tens of thousands of visitors have attended APW exhibitions, talks, presentations, and digital screenings in iconic and high-traffic locations across Athens, bringing the wider public into direct contact with the power of the image and the art of journalistic photography.
Following the successful open-air exhibitions of Athens Photo World 2025 at the fencing of the National Garden and the Athens Concert Hall, the call for entries for the Athens Photo World Awards has opened once again this year, continuing the festival’s core mission: to highlight contemporary photojournalism and its creators those who record History as it is being written.
Upgrading all its activities and introducing new collaborations in its eighth edition, Athens Photo World continues its successful, recognizable, and highly attended events. Its central priority remains the direct engagement of both residents and visitors of Athens with photojournalism, through their encounter with representative work by acclaimed photographers from around the world.
During the first quarter of 2026, APW will include:
- The Athens Photo World Awards
- The Two-Day Digital Screenings at Technopolis City of Athens (28/2–1/3)
- A seminar (masterclass) for photographers
- A collaboration with one of the world’s largest photography festivals, XPOSURE, held annually in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Throughout the summer, Athens Photo World will present its two established open-air exhibitions: at the fencing of the National Garden and at the fencing of the Athens Concert Hall.
Athens Photo World Awards
An institution that had been missing for nearly two decades from Greek photojournalism. Since their launch in 2019, the annual Athens Photo World Awards have played a crucial role in showcasing the work of contemporary photographers and photojournalists who live and work in Greece and Cyprus, while also providing significant financial support to help them continue their work.
Each year, the jury consists of three different members selected by the Athens Photo World team. The goal is to include professionals with diverse photographic backgrounds such as photojournalists, academics, fine art photographers, and photo editors from major news or online media organizations.
For 2026, the jury members were photographers Thomas Daskalakis, Nikos Palaiologos, and Olga Stefatou.
The finalists of the competition for the Athens Photo World 2025 Award, now in its seventh consecutive year, are the following photographers (in alphabetical order):
- Eleni Albarosa, with the project “The Last Peacock”
- Angelos Tzortzinis, with the project “Landscapes of a Changing Environment”
- Nicolas Chatzipolitis, with the project “Leisure Time in a Frame”
The final ranking for 1st prize (€3,000), 2nd prize (€2,000) and 3rd prize (€1,000) will be announced at the awards ceremony on Sunday, 1 March, at Gas Holder 1 – Miltiadis Evert Auditorium, Technopolis City of Athens.
Masterclass
Aiming to enhance the quality of photojournalism in Greece, Athens Photo World organized a masterclass led by Magnum Photos photographer Enri Canaj.
Fifteen young photographers participate free of charge, following a submission of their work and final selection by the instructor himself. The photo stories produced will be presented during the Two-Day Digital Screenings of Athens Photo World 2026, on Saturday 28 February and Sunday 1 March, at Gas Holder 1 – “Miltiadis Evert” Auditorium, Technopolis City of Athens.
Digital Screenings
The program of digital screenings by selected photographers and videographers—presenting work directly linked to recent Greek and international current affairs—returns in 2026 to Technopolis City of Athens.
The Two-Day Digital Screenings, taking place on 28 February and 1 March 2026, include:
- Photojournalism: a 45-minute slideshow featuring selected photographers, followed by a discussion with the audience, creators, and finalists of the previous year’s Athens Photo World Awards. Featured photographers include Maro Kouri, Stelios Misinas, Sokratis Baltagiannis, Kostas Tsironis, and Nikos Chatzipolitis.
- Presentation of work by masterclass participants by Enri Canaj.
- Screening and awarding of the work of the three finalists of the competition for the Athens Photo World Awards 2026.
(The full program of the two-day event will be announced soon.)
APW & XPOSURE Collaboration
For the first time in XPOSURE’s history, Athens will be the honored city, through the group exhibition Athens Photo World, which will be presented from 29 January to 4 February 2026 in Sharjah.
The exhibition will include works by Greek photographers Maro Kouri, Sokratis Baltagiannis, Michalis Pappas, Antonis Pasvantis, and Dimitris Tosidis.
On the opening day, 29 January, a panel discussion titled “Stories of Migration, Culture and Humanity” will take place, featuring Christina Kalligianni and the photographers of the exhibition, moderated by professors Ioannis Galanopoulos Papavasileiou and Yannis Kontos.
Open-Air Exhibitions – Summer 2026
The established open-air exhibitions of Athens Photo World, now a recognized cultural institution will be announced soon.
Athens Photo World 2026 is implemented with the generous sponsorship of PPC, the Region of Attica and the Ministry of Culture.
The organizing team behind the above program is:
- Thanasis Stavrakis – AP Chief Photographer (Greece, Cyprus, Albania, North Macedonia), Artistic Director
- Yannis Kolesidis – AP/EPA Photographer, Curator & Digital Screenings Coordinator
- Christina Kalligianni – Photographer, PhD Candidate at Panteion University, General Coordination
