5th Place Award in the “Siblings” category (Fall 2021). Photo by Sandipani Chattopadhyay (India).

Siblings – Award Gallery

Single photographs that reflect the dynamics and experience of the sibling relationship(s).

We are proud to share with you the award-winning photographs from our 10th international competition celebrating the very best in documentary family photography.

Award winners were chosen during the final round of judging recorded live from our three judges’ locations at the time in Miami (USA), Victoria (Canada) and Denver (USA). The final round of judging in its entirety was subsequently streamed online over three days from January 24th-26th, 2022. Viewers had the opportunity to watch the unfiltered discussions and constructive feedback as winners were collectively chosen by esteemed judges Carl-Philippe Juste, Jenna Shouldice and Kirsten Bethmann.

The following award-winning photographs have been through two rounds of critical review and selection. Congratulations to the winners!

Top 10 awarded photographs by Yan Zhang, Anikitos Hadjicharalambous, Nina Tberg, Julia Matthews, Sandipani Chattopadhyay, Bobbi Barbarich, Derrick Ong, Adina Davidson, Laura Beth Davidson and Sara Cardoso Silva.

Honorable Mention photographs by Erin Byrne, Joosje Janssen, Lori Gospodyn, Sabine Doppelhofer and Tracy Koch.

(click or tap an image to view award details)

Our preliminary round guest judges evaluated every single submission we received and selected thirty or less of their favourite photographs per category to move forward to the live-judging round as finalists. Our deepest thanks to Irmina Walczak (Poland), Julia Chang-Lomonico (United States) and Zun Lee (Canada) for their hours of dedication during this process. Congratulations to these photographers who were nominated as finalists for consideration during the final round of live judging.

Finalist photographs by Adina Davidson, Alice Chapman, Allison Patel, Amanda Dalby, Ana Backhaus, Anouk Godbout, Ashley Waters, Camila Butcher, Cus Blesa, Derrick Ong, Diana Feil, Diana Hagues, Emma Collins, Erin Byrne, Erin Clayton, Ewelina Strzelczyk, Gabriele Smolarz, Irati Ayerza Ganzarain, Iris Muñoz, Julia Matthews, Julia Rose-Greim, Julia Völzow, Juliana Holck, Katarzyna Cypryś-Ławniczak, Katie Haslam, Katie Langmuir, Katrin Küllenberg, Laura Gutierrez, Laura Proctor, Lavinia Nitu, Leah Holscher, Lisa Chen, Maria Ofelia Arzate Vazquez, Maria Papadopoulos, Marta Szyszka, Melissa Mcclure, Michelle Macirella, Mireia Vilaplana, Nadja Arold, Nimrod Mankovski, Olivia Tomkins, Polina Subbotina, Regina Cambria, Rhiannon Lloyd-Hughes, Sarah-Dee Impey, Sindy Knapp, Sofia Moraga, Tabea Hörnlein, Vladimir Karamazov, Will Ong and Yuanyuan Yue.

(click or tap image collage to a view larger )

Re-watch the live judging for this category

Stream on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, and Chromecast.

Did you submit to our Fall 2021 Call For Entries? If so you will be emailed with a unique promo code to access the archive for free! If you did not submit and would like to watch/rewatch the judging a purchase option is available.

The Documentary Family Awards is an international competition in search of the insightful and meaningful ways that documentary photographers explore the interpretation of family.