C/O Berlin Talent Award
Sheung Yiu, (Inter)faces of Predictions . C/O Berlin Talent Award 2025
© C/O Berlin Foundation . Justus Lemm
C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026
Vector of Compliance, Defensive Readiness: Revised Edition, 2025 © Amin Yousefi

The C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 with the thematic focus Body Politics and in the Artist category goes to Amin Yousefi (b. 1996, Iran). His outstanding work Defensive Readiness: Revised Version will be presented in a solo exhibition at C/O Berlin in Amerika Haus from Feb 13 to Jun 2, 2027. The C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 in the Writer category goes to Maxi Wallenhorst (b. 1993, Germany).

More about the winners and the Short List 2026 

C/O Berlin Talent Award
© C/O Berlin Foundation, David von Becker
DISCOVER AND SUPPORT EMERGING TALENTS

Since 2006, C/O Berlin has supported emerging artistic and academic talent through the C/O Berlin Talent Award. Since its inception, the program has presented more than 90 outstanding talents to a broad public. In recent years, C/O Berlin has presented numerous groundbreaking projects that engaged in different ways with the overarching theme of New Documentary Strategies. Award recipients include, among others, Stephanie Moshammer, Anna Ehrenstein, and Karolina Wojtas, as well as Sheung Yiu.

The year 2026 marks the award's 20th anniversary—an occasion to rethink the funding conceptually.

What it is about
© C/O Berlin Foundation, David von Becker
SUPPORTING YOUNG TALENTS IN THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The C/O Berlin Talent Award is awarded each year in the categories of art and theory to individuals under thirty-five years of age. The award carries a cash prize for both winners as well as a solo exhibition and an individually designed publication. A joint artist talk rounds off this union of theory and practice. 

Against the backdrop of current global and societal challenges and the ongoing transformation of photographic practices, C/O Berlin will realign the Talent Award starting in 2026. The award will be shaped by annual thematic focuses that address contemporary issues and highlight diverse perspectives within contemporary photography. As part of this repositioning, the application process will transition to an open call format.

Prize

Winning the C/O Berlin Talent Award in the Artist category includes a solo exhibition at C/O Berlin and an accompanying publication which features an interview as well as an essay by the concurrently awarded Writer. Both award recipients receive prize money of EUR 5,000 each. The award provides international visibility, exchange, and networking opportunities and represents a decisive step in the careers of many recipients. This funding program, which is unique in Europe, is supervised by curator Veronika Epple. 

Since 2020, the C/O Berlin Talent Award has been made possible by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung.

Silvia Rosi . Protektorat . C/O Berlin Talent Award 2024, Installationsansicht, C/O Berlin, 2025
© C/O Berlin Foundation, David von Becker
In search of
© C/O Berlin Foundation, Naroska Design
THEME 2026

The C/O Berlin Talent Award 2026 is dedicated to the theme Body Politics. The term describes the complex interplay of power, institutions, and discourses that shape, control, or render bodies (in)visible. In a time marked by multiple overlapping crises, the body once again emerges as a central site of resistance, identity, and memory. What role do photography and lens-based media play in making these tensions visible and reflecting upon them? This year’s theme invites participants to explore the body as a political field, as an archive of experience, or a medium at the intersection of the individual and society.

Year for Year

ALL TALENTS THROUGH TIME

Artist
Amin Yousefi
Theorist
Maxi Wallenhorst
Shortlist
Nicolás Bernal
Debora Brune
Bimal Fabbri
Ashley McLean
Details
Artist
Sheung Yiu
Theorist
Megan Williams
Shortlist
David de Beyter
Olia Koval
Amandine Kuhlmann
Cheryl Mukherji
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Silvia Rosi
Theorist
Katrin Bauer
Shortlist
Salih Basheer
Hiền Hoàng
Sheida Soleimani
Yao Yuan
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Aladin Borioli
Theorist
Bas Blaasse
Shortlist
Arnout & Michiel De Cleene
Naima Green
Elias Holzknecht
Jan Staiger und Malte Uchtmann
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Karolina Wojtas
Theorist
Matthias Gründig
Shortlist
Lucas Leffler
Irene Antonia Diane Reece
Alina Schmuch
Lisandro Suriel
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Adji Dieye
Theorist
Emmanuel Iduma
Shortlist
Leonard Suryajaya
Marina Caneve
Max Colson
Salma Abedin Prithi
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Anna Ehrenstein
Theorist
Emily Watlington
Shortlist
Laura Ben Hayoun
Esther Hovers
Alexander Rosenkranz
Alina Schmuch
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques
Theorist
Mira Anneli Naß
Shortlist
Axel Braun
Jan Hoek
Camille Lévêque
Luo Yang
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Stefanie Moshammer
Theorist
Andreas Prinzing
Shortlist
Sylvain Couzinet-Jacques
Joscha Steffens
Stephan Bögel
Mafalda Rakoš
Details
Exhibition
Artist
Karolin Back
Theorist
Svenja Paulsen
Details
Artist
Verónica Losantos
Bianca Pedrina
Method Sasha Kurmaz
Maja Wirkus
Theorist
Anja Schürmann
Larissa Kikol
Svea Bräunert
Jule Schaffer
Details
Artist
Iveta Vaivode
Emanuel Mathias
Marc Beckmann
Krzysztof Pijarski
David Favrod
Theorist
Jule Hillgärtner
Sabine Weier
Sarah Alberti
Annika K. Kuhlmann
Julia Katharina Thiemann
Details
Artist
Luise Schröder
Theorist
Hannah Peterson
Details
Artist
Iveta Vaivode
Marc Beckmann
Theorist
Krzysztof Pijarski
Emanuel Mathias
Details
Artist
Peikwen Cheng
Florian van Roekel
Daniel Seiffert
Willem Popelier
Theorist
Eileen Seifert
Nisaar Ulama
Agneta Jilek
Katja Müller-Helle
Details
Artist
Iris Janke
Timotheus Tomicek
Anne Schumann
Mirko Martin
Theorist
Julia Pattis
Kathrin Schönegg
Thilo Westermann
Melanie Martin
Details
Artist
Andy Spyra
Esther-Judith Hinz
Friederike Brandenburg
Markus Klingenhäger
Theorist
Christin Müller
Maria Schindelegger
Sophia Greiff
Christin Krause
Details
Artist
Oskar Schmidt
Anne Lass
Christoph Engel
Ofer Wolberger
Theorist
Steffen Siegel
Katja Melzer
Ulrike Westphal
Jennifer Crowley
Details
Artist
Ivonne Thein
Pepa Hristova
Janina Wick
Sebastian Stumpf
Theorist
Heide Häusler
Carolin Ellwanger
Ann-Christin Bertrand
Stefanie Hoch
Details
Artist
Tobias Zielony
Wolfram Hahn
Marion Poussier
Frank Höhle
Theorist
Jutta v. Zitzewitz
Daniel Klemm
Marius Strasser
Thilo Scheffler
Details
Artist
Stephanie Kiwitt
Sibylle Fendt
Stephen Waddell
Frank Berger
Gaël Peltier
Theorist
Claudia Gochmann
Anne Pascale Frohn
Katrin Blum
Florian Ebner
Thibaut de Ruyter
Details
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