Elias Holzknecht, Victoria Jung, Aline Papenheim and Yana Wernicke have been awarded the Wüstenrot Foundation’s Documentary Photography Awards 16

The Wüstenrot Foundation, in collaboration with the Museum 
Folkwang, has once again presented its prestigious Documentary Photography Awards. The prizes – each worth 10,000 euros – go this year to Elias Holzknecht, Hochschule Hannover, Victoria Jung, Fachhochschule Dortmund, Aline Papenheim, Fachhochschule Aachen / Royal Academy of Art Den Haag and Yana Wernicke, Hochschule Bielefeld. From 108 applications from graduates of German art colleges and photography training institutions, the jury selected the four prize winners.

The Wüstenrot Foundation’s Documentary Photography Award is aimed at young photographers who engage critically with the representational methods of reality-based photography, placing thematic objectives and formal aspects within a new context for discussion and further developing them. This latest award continues the ongoing support for contemporary documentary photography.

The members of the international jury were:
Ann-Christin Bertrand, curator, author and lecturer in photography, Hochschule Luzern
Bertram Kaschek, curator, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Ramona Schacht, artist and winner of the Documentary Photography Award 14 
René Hartmann, project manager Wüstenrot Foundation’s Documentary Photography Award
Thomas Seelig, head of the photography collection, Museum Folkwang

The jury explained its selection as follows: 
“The submitted projects, with their diverse approaches and themes, demonstrate how documentary photography can explore the relationship between humans and their environment from various perspectives: one project focuses on the female perspective, whilst another adopts the male perspective. Another work explores ‘the third option’, whilst the fourth project addresses issues of animal welfare. What particularly impressed the jury about the four award-winning entrants was the diversity and the empathetic potential of documentary storytelling.”

The winners of the Wüstenrot Foundation’s Documentary Photography Award 16 are:

Elias Holzknecht (*1993), Hochschule Hannover: “The work Both Feed Firmly in the Air (2025) interprets alpinism as a multi-layered visual and experiential space in which personal memories and notions of masculinity — as risk, control and conquest— are inscribed and photographically cemented. In this way, it provides an impetus to look more closely at how gendered meanings and visual orders arise and continue to exert their influence.” (Ramona Schacht, jury member DF 16)
 

Victoria Jung (*1991), Fachhochschule Dortmund: “Victoria Jung’s work employs a positive, refreshing visual language and approach to explore themes such as queerness, Afro-Brazilian culture and feminism, as well as perceptions of favelas in Brazil. Following in the footsteps of Bad Bunny’s message ‘The only thing stronger than hate is love’, she approaches the relevant issues of our time – which, whilst situated here in Brazil, have far-reaching implications – in an intuitive, playful and poetically sensitive manner. Diversity, openness and a conscious focus on what unites rather than what divides characterise her documentary strategies and simultaneously expand them, which convinced the jury and was deemed particularly relevant in light of current issues and the global political situation.” (Ann-Christin Bertrand, jury member DF 16)

Aline Papenheim (*1997), Fachhochschule Aachen / Royal Academy of Art Den Haag: “Aline Papenheim’s work In the Forest Behind My Father’s House (2025) explores processes of social and ecological transformation, using hunting culture in rural Sauerland as a case study. Against the backdrop of creeping forest dieback, Papenheim investigates the consequences of a lack of diversity in habitats that are intricately interwoven. The project stands out for its collaborative approach, which incorporates non-human perspectives alongside those of local people. Above all, however, Papenheim develops a visual language that is as media-conscious as it is poetic.” (Bertram Kaschek, jury member DF 16)

Yana Wernicke (*1990), Fachhochschule Bielefeld: “In her project Die Schwere des Seins (2026), Yana Wernicke captures moments of animal welfare caught between control and freedom. Using photographic and cinematic techniques, she explores how breeding, care and productivity are inscribed into the animal’s body. Through powerful and moving images, she paints a picture of horses, pigs and cows beyond the cold logic of exploitation.” (Thomas Seelig, jury member DF 16)

Since 1994, the Wüstenrot Foundation, in collaboration with the Museum Folkwang, has awarded the Documentary Photography Award every two years. This year, marking the sixteenth edition of the prize, the call for entries was once again conducted via a nomination process. Lecturers at all German universities and academies with an explicit focus on documentary photography in their curricula were invited to nominate graduates who had completed their degrees after 1 January 2023. Each application was accompanied by a portfolio of the graduate’s final project and a proposal for a new project. The prizes are each endowed with 10,000 euros and enable the realisation of the submitted project proposal. After one year, a travelling exhibition with an accompanying catalogue will be developed from the results of the work. The exhibition, catalogue and tour are part of the sponsorship award and are funded in full by the Wüstenrot Stiftung. The first stop of the exhibition traditionally takes place at the Museum Folkwang.

Contact Wüstenrot Foundation
Documentary Photography Awards 
René Hartmann, Wüstenrot Foundation, Ludwigsburg
+49 7141 16-75 6503, rene.hartmann@wstg.de