The Outstanding Maternity Award has completed its 36th season, celebrating exceptional maternity and family photography from around the world. This international competition featured photographers representing 15 different countries, demonstrating how visual storytelling can communicate the universal language of familial love across cultural boundaries. The diversity of this year's submissions reflects the award's decade-long commitment to showcasing authentic, emotionally resonant family moments through photography.
This year's judging panel included internationally acclaimed photographers Elif ES from Germany and Mariana Bontempo from Brazil, who brought extensive expertise to the selection process. Elif ES holds a master's degree in International Photography, while Mariana Bontempo's work has been exhibited at prestigious venues including the Carrousel du Louvre. Their combined experience ensured that the winning photographs powerfully communicated the depth and complexity of familial bonds across different cultural contexts.
The winning images represent a broad spectrum of cultural perspectives, capturing moments ranging from pregnancy through everyday family life. Photographers from Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Turkey, the United States, Cyprus, India, Italy, France, Martinique, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Canada contributed to this global artistic dialogue. This geographical diversity underscores how family photography serves as a universal medium for expressing love, connection, and human experience across different societies and traditions.
Founded in 2014 by Eliane Pellegrini, who brings 12 years of international photography experience to the award, the competition has spent a decade elevating the art of family photography on an international stage. Pellegrini emphasized the significance of cultural diversity in this year's submissions, noting how the award goes beyond traditional photography contests by serving as a platform for photographers to showcase their work and reach broader audiences. By highlighting nuanced, intimate moments of family life, the Outstanding Maternity Award continues to demonstrate photography's power to capture the essence of human relationships across global communities.
