hariban award - international collotype competition 2026

Founded in 1887, Benrido opened its collotype atelier in 1905 and has specialised in the collotype printing technique for over 120 years. Today, collotype studios are rare in the world, but Benrido continues to produce fine colour collotype prints and works to pass the technique on to the next generation.

Collotype is an alternative printing process that was invented in 1855 by the French engineer Alphonse Poitevin as a method of photographic fine art printing. Photographic prints of the 19th century had poor image preservability and gradually faded and discoloured over time. To compensate for this, various printing methods using pigments were devised; one of the established techniques among them was collotype. Not only did it offer a high degree of preservation, but it also made it possible to produce a large number of prints as printmaking once the printing plate is pigmented. Collotype was put into practice by Joseph Albert in Germany and then widely used throughout the world, later being introduced to Japan from the USA.

Presented by Benrido, the Hariban Award combines a 170-year-old analogue technique with contemporary photography. The award was launched in 2014 with the aim of introducing artists and photographers to collotype, an alternative photographic process. Glass plates have been used as collotype printing plates, which is why the award is called “Hariban” because “Hari” means glass plate, and “ban” means printing plate in Japanese. This Award invites professionals and amateurs alike to submit black and white photographs for a chance to win. The winners are carefully selected by a jury of international curators, publishers and artists in the field of photography. The Grand Prize Winner will be invited to a two-week residency in Kyoto, Japan, to collaborate with the master printers of Benrido.