august sander prize for portrait photography

The August Sander Prize for Portrait Photography, endowed by Ulla Bartenbach and Prof. Dr. Kurt Bartenbach, will be awarded for the fifth time in 2026 in cooperation with the Photographic Collection/ SK Foundation for Culture, Cologne.

The prize aims to promote young, contemporary artistic approaches in the spirit of objective-conceptual photography. Against the backdrop of August Sander's significant portrait photography, applicants' photographic works should primarily focus on the theme of the human portrait. The prize is awarded every two years.