
Announcing the Winners & Finalists!
Portrait photography resonates in cultures all over the world. Why? Because people are interested in other people: from cultural icons to the gaze of the everyday person on the street. These awards were aimed at discovering the full potential of 21st century portraiture and some of the best examples being made today.
Photographers from over 100 countries shared their strongest work and our jury carefully selected a powerful and diverse group. In addition, each juror chose one photographer as a personal selection, also presented here. Through their distinctive points of view, these 39 photographers offer us both their own vision of the world — and new ways of looking at each other.
LensCulture Portrait Awards Series Winners
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Shiny Ghost1st Place Series Winner
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Young New Yorkers2nd Place Series Winner
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Sweet Little Lies3rd Place Series Winner
LensCulture Portrait Awards Single Image Winners
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Nude (Reach)1st Place Single Image Winner
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Anoel2nd Place Single Image Winner
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Chayla in Shul3rd Place Single Image Winner
LensCulture Portrait Awards Jurors' Picks
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Great Interactions: Life With Learning Disabilities and AutismSelected by Clare GrafikHead of Exhibitions,
The Photographers’ Gallery -
A Portrait Revisited: 1986, 2006Selected by Jim CasperEditor-in-Chief,
LensCulture -
SHESelected by Iatã CannabravaPhotographer & Festival Organizer
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André on His CouchSelected by Lauren FordPhotographic Director,
Dazed & Confused -
Niels BlendermanSelected by Emma BowkettDirector of Photography,
Financial Times Weekend Magazine -
Kirkuk's UnknownSelected by Elinor CarucciPhotographer
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Hurricane SeasonSelected by Anne Bourgeois-VignonGlobal Digital Director,
Magnum Photos -
Hometown: 1982-2015Selected by Alessia GlavianoSenior Photo Editor,
Vogue Italia L'Uomo Vogue
LensCulture Portrait Awards Finalists
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Inner Self
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In-Vitro Fertilization, Palestine
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The Red Road Project
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Genderqueer: Outside & In-Between the Binary
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The Ordeal: Last Witnesses of Stalin's Mass Exiles
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Pop
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On the Shore
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Noreen, Gascoyne Estate, Homerton, London
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Mama
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Portraits
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Oh My Rabbits
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Environmental Portraits
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Maysa
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Tsaatan Woman with Reindeer
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Monsanto: A Photographic Investigation
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Anonymous Friends
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The Gleaners
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Subjective Trophies
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Malaiku: Survivors of Boko Haram Abduction
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The Longings of the Others
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Childhood Revisited
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Maravilla del Mundo (Wonder of the World)
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Metamorpolis
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Ten People in a Suitcase
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Silent Dialogues
LensCulture
Portrait Awards
International
Jury 2016
Alessia Glaviano is the senior photo editor for Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue. She curated a series of interviews with the masters of photography for the website version of Vogue Italia, which have acquired enormous popularity in the photography community and which are also broadcast on the Italian Sky Arte channel. Glaviano is also responsible for Photo Vogue, an innovative platform on which users can share their own photographs knowing they can rely on the curatorial supervision of professional photo editors.
Under Alessia Glaviano’s direction, Photo Vogue has reached over 120,000 users/photographers hailing from all over the world and launched a collaboration with the prestigious international agency Art & Commerce, which represents some of the most esteemed names in fashion photography, including Steven Meisel, Sølve Sundsbø, Paolo Roversi and Patrick Demarchelier. At Condé Nast, Alessia is responsible for the artistic direction of events and exhibitions for Vogue Italia and L’Uomo Vogue. Besides her editorial activity, Alessia teaches the IED’s Master courses in Milan and holds lectures and conferences on a regular basis. Some of the institutes and universities she was invited as guest lecturer include: IED, Bocconi University and the Milan Polytechnic.
Alessia Glaviano was invited to participate as a jury member in numerous internationally acclaimed photography contests including the World Press Photo and has participated in several portfolio review sessions, including the New York Times Portfolio Reviews.
Emma Bowkett is Director of Photography at the Financial Times FT Weekend Magazine. Joining in 2009, she was integral to the small creative team who reworked the visual language of the magazine ready for the 2010 re-launch.
Furthermore, she is a visiting university lecturer, and regularly participates at international portfolio reviews, festivals, art fairs and awards, including Unseen, Foam Paul Huf, and the Kraszner-Krausz Foundation Book Award. Emma has been a Master at both Foam and Fabrica Masterclasses and is part of Magnum Photos Professional Practice, which supports young and emerging photographers. In 2015, she co-curated a Financial Times special supplement and day of events as part of Photo London. She recently won the inaugural Firecracker Contributors Award, which recognises women who have had a substantial impact on the photography industry and is voted for by professional photographers.
The magazine won Supplement of the Year 2014 in the UK Press Awards.
Emma has a Masters degree in Image and Communication from Goldsmiths University in London.


Iatã Cannabrava was born in Brazil in 1962. He has worked as a photographer for decades, developing a series of social and documentary projects over his career. He worked at newspapers like Folha de São Paulo, Jornal da Tarde and magazines like Veja (among others). He also worked with numerous Brazilian publishers and was a photographer at the São Paulo Cultural Center. His work has been included in over 40 exhibitions and he was named the winner of the prestigious P/B photography award at the São Paulo photography quadrennial. He has published 10 books and his works are held in numerous galleries and private collections.
Besides his own work, Cannabrava has been active in the photographic community at large. He served as the President of São Paulo's photographer's union. He has organized over 30 exhibitions and personally overseen over 15 workshops. In addition, he created and directed the Photography Clinic, the site of over 80 workshops.

Born 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel, Elinor Carucci graduated in 1995 from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design with a degree in photography, and moved to New York that same year. Her work has been included in many solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Solo shows include Edwynn Houk gallery, Fifty One Fine Art Gallery, James Hyman and Gagosian Gallery, London among others. Group shows include The Museum of Modern Art New York, MoCP Chicago and The Photographers' Gallery, London.
Her photographs are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Art, among others. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Details, New York Magazine, W, Aperture, ARTnews and many more publications.
She was awarded the ICP Infinity Award in 2001, The Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002 and NYFA in 2010. Carucci has published three monographs to date, Closer, Chronicle Books 2002 and Diary of a dancer, SteidlMack 2005 and MOTHER, Prestel 2013.
Carucci currently teaches at the graduate program of photography at School of Visual Arts and is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery.
Her recent solo exhibition, The Effect of Motherhood, showing images from both personal work and editorial stories, was the launching show at the new Condé Nast gallery in New York.
