AWARD-WINNERS 2025
DIVYA COWASJI
AWARD-WINNERS DEDICATED TO A PHOTOGRAPHER FROM A SOUTHERN REGION
Chose Commune publishing
Indian photographer born in 1987
There Are No Love Letters Here is part story, part memory, part heritage, part fiction. Confronted with a rich family history, Divya Cowasji sets out to preserve the stories passed down by her elders by exploring family archives, oral traditions and objects in her 200-year-old ancestral home.
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Through self-portraits, she embodies her ancestors by wearing their clothes and jewelry, blurring the boundaries between past and present. This sensitive work on Parsi-Indian heritage becomes a universal meditation on filiation, the persistence of memory and the inevitable failure of human memory.
© Divya Cowasji
VALENTIN VALETTE
award-winner SAIF grant DEDICATED TO A FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHER OR LIVING IN FRANCE
Basalte publishing
French photographer born in 1994
Ashes of the Arabian’s pearl looks at the new economic, social and political trajectories of the Sultanate of Oman.
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On January 10, 2020, the Sultanate of Oman loses Sultan Qābūs Bin Sa’īd, iconic monarch with a record 50-year reign, founder of modern Oman. Under his reign, the oil windfall of the 1970s attracted strong Asian immigration, which today accounts for 40% of the population. To preserve a national identity, he introduced “Omanization” in 1988, aimed at reducing dependence on foreign labor. Faced with depleting resources, he drew up “Vision 2040” to diversify the economy. Upon his death, he was succeeded by his cousin Haitham Bin Tarik. This project explores this transition, confronting immigrant workers from Asia and Omani entrepreneurs, questioning the social, economic and territorial dynamics at the dawn of a new future for Oman, between glorious past and uncertain future.
© Valentin Valette
JULIETTE PAVY
AWARD-WINNER GRANT DEDICATED TO A WOMAN PHOTOGRAPHER
Four Eyes publishing
French photographer born in 1996
Spirales explores the forced sterilization of Greenlandic women between 1966 and 1975, as part of Danish colonial policy.
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Nearly 4,500 IUDs were inserted in women, mainly of Inuit origin. Many of the women recount how the operation was carried out without their consent. This photographic work blends testimonies, archives and contemporary images, giving voice to these forgotten women. The book, conceived as a sober and singular object, combines documentary and poetic photos.
© Juliette Pavy
JURY
The winners were selected by a jury of professional photographers:
Sandrine Ayrolle
Acting Head of the Photography Department and Head of Support for Photographic Creation
Véronique Souben
Director, École Nationale de la Photographie
Jeanne Mercier
Curator
Isabelle Habert
Iconographer at SAIF
Véronique Prugnaud & Mathilde Milesi
The Eyes publisher and organizer of the 1st Photo Book Awards / The Eyes communications and editorial coordinator
The 1st photo-book grants are supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the SAIF.