{"id":77076,"date":"2026-02-03T14:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/?p=77076"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T10:52:08","slug":"xposure-photography-awards-2026-honours-global-winners-sets-record-with-29000-entries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/xposure-photography-awards-2026-honours-global-winners-sets-record-with-29000-entries\/","title":{"rendered":"Xposure Photography Awards 2026 Honours Global Winners, Sets Record With 29,000 Entries"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The recipients of the Xposure International Photography Awards 2026 have been honoured during an official ceremony held as part of the 10th edition of the Xposure International Photography Festival organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB).<\/p>\n

The ceremony recognised outstanding photographers from around the world whose work demonstrated exceptional visual storytelling, technical skill, and creative depth across a wide range of genres, with the awards presented by Tariq Saeed Allay, Director-General of SGMB, and Alya Al Suwaidi, Director of SGMB. The awards form a central pillar of Xposure 2026, marking the festival\u2019s milestone tenth edition under the theme \u201cA Decade of Visual Storytelling\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Xposure International Photography Awards 2026 received more than 29,000 photography submissions from over 60 countries, recording the highest participation in the awards\u2019 history. Winners and runners-up were called to the stage, while esteemed photojournalist, Giles Clarke, read each of the jury\u2019s justifications and bestowed congratulations.<\/p>\n

The warmly appreciative audience seated in the Xposure Auditorium showed their appreciation for multiple photography categories, including Architectural, Mobile Photography, Nature & Landscape, Night Photography, Portraiture, Photo-manipulation and AI, Sports Photography, Street Photography, Visual Storytelling, and a dedicated Junior category for UAE residents aged 7\u201317.<\/p>\n

The Overall winner of the Photography Award for Xposure 2026 was presented to Myanmar\u2019s Myat Hein for the photograph \u2018A Portrait of Resilience\u2019, selected for its emotional depth, narrative strength, and powerful visual impact.<\/p>\n

In the Architectural Photography category, Hans Wichmann from Germany claimed first place for his photograph \u2018Antinori Winery\u2019, while Olga Nezmeskalova from Czech Republic secured the runner-up position for \u2018David and Goliath\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Mobile Photography strand saw Si Thu Ye Myint from Myanmar awarded first place for \u2018A Day in the Life of a Farmer Family\u2019, with Chinese Yajun Hu named runner-up for \u2018A Gazing Cat\u2019.<\/p>\n

Many of the photographs selected for these honours featured natural phenomena, but for Nature & Landscape Photography, UAE\u2019s Preeti John received first place for \u2018The Conversationalists\u2019. Russian Sergey Gorshkov was lauded too for his \u2018Elephant at Sunset\u2019. The Night Photography award was claimed by Marian Kuric from Slovakia for \u2018Fairy Tale\u2019, with Htin Lin from Myanmar placing second for the bewitching photograph \u2018Night of Fishermen\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Photo-manipulation and AI category saw two Iranian recipients win. Maryam Sadat Ahmadi secured the top prize with \u2018Myself\u2019, a stunningly perplexing puzzle of a composition, just ahead of compatriot Saeed Rezvanian with his photograph \u2018Untitled.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Portraiture Photography category awarded first place to Aung Kyaw Zaw from Myanmar for \u2018The Two Face\u2019, with Malaysian Yuji Haikal receiving recognition for \u2018Lost in Translation\u2019.<\/p>\n

In Sports Photography, Ahmad Damra from Jordan took the honors for his pole-vaulting image \u2018Strength in the Curve of Challenge\u2019, while Muhammad Al-Jalandi from Oman was declared runner-up for \u2018Dreams Beyond Limit\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Street Photography award went to Mexican Antonio Flores for the faux bull-fighting scene \u2018Dance with the Giant of the Fire, with Aimin Chen from China landing the runner-up slot for \u2018Walk on Stilts\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the Visual Storytelling category, Bob Miller from the United States of America triumphed in first place for \u2018The Last Generation\u2019. \u2018It\u2019s All in My Head\u2019 from Nigerian Etinosa Yvonne received the runner-up prize as well as loud applause from those in attendance.<\/p>\n

The Junior Photography category, open to UAE<\/a> residents aged 7\u201317, recognised young visual storytellers across two age groups. In the Lower Junior (7-13 year olds) category, Ishaan Shyjith won for \u2018Pathways in Motion\u2019, with Abdalla AlSuwaidi runner-up for \u2018Heritage and Culture\u2019. In the Upper Junior (14-17 year olds) category, Neel Anil claimed first place for \u2018The March and the Mimics\u2019, while \u2018The Silent Custodian\u2019 by Badr Alsayed took home the second place accolade.<\/p>\n

As Xposure marks its tenth edition, the Photography Awards continue to reflect the festival\u2019s evolution into a global platform for visual culture, dialogue, and creative exchange. Through its expanding categories and record-breaking participation, Xposure 2026 reinforces Sharjah\u2019s position as a worldwide hub for photography and visual storytelling.<\/p>\n

The evening concluded with appreciation extended to the jury, partners, and the photography community whose participation continues to heighten Xposure\u2019s role on the international cultural stage.<\/p>\n

All of the shortlisted and winning photographs are displayed in the \u2018Hall of Fame\u2019 in Zone 11 of the Festival, directly in front of the Xposure Auditorium.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n

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The recipients of the Xposure International Photography Awards 2026 have been honoured during an official ceremony held as part of the 10th edition of the Xposure International Photography Festival organised by the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB). The ceremony recognised outstanding photographers from around the world whose work demonstrated exceptional visual storytelling, technical skill, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77078,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77076\/revisions\/77078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.middleeastevents.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}