Prizes and incentives for finalists
The Young Italian Photography Award was established in 2018 and, since 2022, has been named after Luigi Ghirri. This choice celebrates the photographer’s deep bond with Reggio Emilia, the city that houses his archive in the Panizzi Library Photo Library, and reflects the collaboration with the Luigi Ghirri Foundation.
Every year, an international jury awards the Luigi Ghirri Prize, including a €4,000 contribution, to the best project among the seven finalists.
Giovane Fotografia Italiana is at the centre of an international network of cultural institutions and festivals that promote new talent and collaborate with GFI through artist residencies, exhibitions, exchanges, and networking activities.
Triennale Milan
Since 2022, the winner of the Luigi Ghirri Prize has had the opportunity to present an expanded version of their project in a solo exhibition at Triennale Milan the following winter, thanks to the partnership with Triennale Milano.
IIC Stockholm
New Trajectories. GFI in Stockholm: from 2023, thanks to the agreement with the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm, a special mention has been introduced, offering an artist residency in Sweden and a solo exhibition at the IIC Stockholm.
Fotofestiwal Łódź
From 2024, in collaboration with Fotofestiwal Łódź (Poland), some finalists will participate in the innovative portfolio reading format Photo-Match, with scholarships for travel and accommodation.
Photoworks
Residency in North Yorkshire // in 2024, thanks to Photoworks, photographers Camilla Marrese and Alessandro Truffa had an immersive experience in the Dalby Forest, UK, with mentoring and networking activities.
Fotodok, Utrecht
Networking in Utrecht // in 2025, in collaboration with Fotodok, the seven finalists were invited to spend time in Utrecht to participate in meetings, events and exchanges with local artists and experts.
Award winners
Davide Sartori, with the project The Shape of our Eyes, Other Things I Wouldn’t Know is the winner of the Luigi Ghirri Award 2025!
The Young Italian Photography | Luigi Ghirri Award 2025, worth 4000 euros, which also includes the prestigious opportunity to present a solo exhibition in the spaces of Triennale Milano, has been awarded by a jury composed of Tim Clark, Adele Ghirri, Damiano Gullì, Rä Di Martino, Mauro Zanchi, to Davide Sartori for the project The Shape of our Eyes, Other Things I Wouldn’t Know with the following motivation:
“For having narrated and explored the father-son bond, fostering a broader critical reflection on masculinity declined with irony and tenderness; for having created an intergenerational bridge by combining photography, archive materials and performance elements “.
Benedetta Casagrande, with the project All Things Laid Dormant, has won the Luigi Ghirri Prize 2024!
The Young Italian Photography | Luigi Ghirri Prize, worth €4,000, which also includes the opportunity to present a solo exhibition at Triennale Milan during 2025, was awarded by a jury composed of Giovanna Calvenzi for Triennale Milano, Alessandro Dandini de Sylva, Paola De Pietri, Adele Ghirri for the Luigi Ghirri heirs archive, and Luce Lebart, a member of the artistic direction of Fotografia Europea, to the Milanese photographer Benedetta Casagrande, with the project ‘All Things Laid Dormant’ with the following motivation:
“For her conscious use of photographic language, for her choice to turn her gaze towards microcosms to which we are invisibly and often unconsciously interconnected. For having tackled the ambiguity of the photographic image in a coherent and poetic way’.g in relation to the feeling of the end”.
Giulia Mangione won the Luigi Ghirri Prize 2023 with her project The Fall!
The jury made up of Lorenza Bravetta (curator of photography, cinema and new media Triennale Milano), Paola Di Bello (artist), Francesca Lazzarini (independent curator), Adele Ghirri (Eredi Luigi Ghirri) and Walter Guadagnini (director of Fotografia Europea) declared Giulia Mangione (Florence, 1987), who lives and works in Oslo, the winner of the Luigi Ghirri Award with the following motivation
“For the solidity of her research, for the photographic quality of her work and for having investigated the theme of belonging in relation to the feeling of the end”.
Giulia Parlato, with her project Diachronicles, is the winner of the Luigi Ghirri Award 2022!
The prize jury – composed of Tim Clark, Adele Ghirri, Elisa Medde, Cristiano Raimondi and Carlo Sala – declared her the winner of the Giovane Fotografia Italiana #09 prize, worth €4,000, with the following motivation:
For having constructed a research project that questions and interrogates the role of photography and the museum in historical reconstruction, and our role and responsibility in attributing meanings and degrees of adherence to reality.”
Vaste Programme wins the third edition of the GFI 2020 Prize
The 2021 edition of Giovane Fotografia Italiana, Reconstruction, announces Vaste Programme as the winners of the prize worth 4000 euros.
Members of the prize board are Diane Dufour, as the director of the Fotografia Europea festival, Arianna Rinaldo, photo editor and art director of Cortona on The Move and Carlo Sala, teacher and art curator.
Iacopo Pasqui won the second edition of the GFI Award, during the 2019 Ropes / Corde edition.
Worth 2,000 euros, the prize was awarded to Iacopo Pasqui for his project N.
The jury of the award included Walter Guadagnini, artistic director of the European Photography Festival, Chiara Fabro for Panoràmic festival and Carlo Sala of the Francesco Fabbri Foundation.
“For having investigated the existential condition of life in the Italian province through a plurality of expressive media where the device used succeeds in rendering the conflict between the individual and the social body in a climate of homologation and isolation.”
Marina Caneve won the first edition of the GFI 2018 Award
In the 2018 Activism edition, the recipient of the Young Italian Photography Award, worth 2,000 euros, was Marina Caneve.
The commission that selected the winner included Walter Guadagnini, artistic director of European Photography Festival, Federica Chiocchetti, founder and director of The Photocaptionist, Stefania Scarpini, project manager for Peep-Hole, Milan and editor for Humboldt Books.
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