Saltzman-Leibovitz Photography Prize 2025

Born to a family of collectors and philanthropists, Lisa Saltzman aims to use her platform to empower the next generation of talent. Together with her long-time friend and also NYC-based photographer Annie Leibovitz, they want to unearth hidden gems for the rest of the world to admire. For this year’s prize, they also got help by a panel of experts, including Drew Sawyer, photography curator at the Whitney Museum; Raul Martinez, a creative director at Condé Nast; Isolde Brielmaier, a curator and scholar; and Kira Pollack, a freelance photo editor. 

Together, they’ve shortlisted six lucky artists: Elena Kalinichenko, Ka’Vozia Glynn, Praise Hassan, Toma Hurduc, Trâm Nguyễn Quang, and Zélie Hallosserie. They’re competing for a grand prize of ten thousand dollars — however, they will all win some monetary compensation, raging from five thousand to five hundred, depending on where they rank. To get to know these young talented artists better, we’ve interviewed five of them to understand what this prize means for them and how they envision their future in the art world.

Hailing from Ukraine, Elena Kalinichenko has been juggling her work as a documentary photographer and an office job to support herself and the country. However, she’s now fully committed to being a photojournalist. Despite the Russian invasion she stayed in Kyiv, so naturally her lens has focused on the ongoing war in her country and its catastrophic consequences. “It’s important that my career aligns with my values. I can only pursue what feels meaningful to me, and photography is the one thing that truly makes sense,” she tells us exclusively.

For this prize, she’s presenting her devastating series I’m Not Fine, which began when her boyfriend joined the army. “I was left to navigate life on my own. I’m learning to face the pain instead of hiding from it,” she says. “I believe photo series are more impactful because they allow you to tell a story. I chose to share what worries me most right now, what truly matters to me. It wouldn’t feel right to send any other photos.”

In the context of a country desolated by war but resilient and hopeful, Elena’s work is more necessary than ever. And any good news gain even more relevance. She found out she was shortlisted for the prize while on the train, “heading home after accompanying my partner to military training, thinking about how my life would change. You can imagine how I felt. I didn’t expect to see that notification. At first, I thought it might be a mistake, so I waited a few days before replying, not wanting to get too excited.”

Not just a photographer but also a poet, graphic designer, and visual artist, Praise Hassan’s work is an amalgamation of all of her interests through which she tells her story. That’s what we can see in Metamorphosis, the series of self-portraits she’s been selected for, which map her journey from depression to healing. “It wasn’t an easy choice; sharing this work feels like a leap of faith,” she confesses. “What made me finally ready to share it was reaching a place of peace and healing. These images aren’t just about pain; they’re about survival, hope, and restoration.”

That healing journey was marked by faith and Christianity. “Depression can be invisible, a slow poisoning that often goes unnoticed until it fully takes hold and one does not want to live anymore. I want my work to speak to people who feel trapped in that silent darkness and offer a glimpse of light, hope, and the possibility of healing in Christ,” the Nigerian photographer explains.

Getting shortlisted for the prize was a huge surprise for Hassan, especially since she found out “in the most unexpected way — scrolling through Instagram, I saw an OkayAfrica article mentioning me as one of the shortlisted artists,” she laughs. “For a second, I was in disbelief. But once it sank in, I was filled with excitement.” 

This opportunity, she hopes, will be a “catalyst” to take on “larger, more ambitious projects that require deep research and cross-disciplinary exploration. I want to create work that not only reflects personal narratives but also engages with broader explorations and introspections around identity, mental health, history, and spirituality.”

Interested in photography from a very early age, Toma Hurduc has pursuit that path even more seriously in recent years. Closely tied to the underground scene of Bucharest, his hometown, as well as his environment, Hurduc uses documentary photography to reflect on politics, history, and identity. His series Two Suns, which he started in 2023 and is still ongoing, is a project “of documentation of the Balkan countries before an imminent, unseen but impending collapse,” he comments. “My research and my own concerns prompted me to start working on such project as a way to soothe my own worries and to raise some questions regarding hyper-capitalist practices, corruption, alienation, and estrangement.”

But he doesn’t do that like an ‘objective,’ external observer, but as someone highly committed. “Due to the vocal, militant ethos of the communities I am part of, I shaped this project to become a critique of the injustice and conditions the inhabitants of these areas are faced with,” he tells us. He believes, also, that his photographic work is important for the future of the country (and the region at large) since it’s living a pivotal moment. “I feel the Balkans are close to the imminent collapse, and through this funding [the prize] I would like to be able to continue my travels and document the image of this area, of my home, before it is too late, to serve as reference for further study.”

The prize comes at a perfect time. “Aside from helping me continue my ongoing project, this opportunity helps with the visibility of my work and with raising awareness to the issues of the area I live in,” the Romanian photographer celebrates. “Having a project break a bubble and reach international territory is the best way to see how your vision as an artist stands in front of a crowd which is living a vastly different reality.”

Born and raised in Amsterdam to Vietnamese parents, Trâm Nguyễn Quang’s interest in photography strongly lies in making sense of her identity, her environment, and also in capturing memories. “During the pandemic I was becoming increasingly aware of the fleeting nature of life, especially after the terminal diagnosis of my mum. I felt a deep-seated desire to immortalise every moment,” she says about how she got into the medium. Because, before delving into the arts, she studied cognitive neuroscience.

Even if she took “very episodic” photographs in the beginning, she now has started “to feel more confident about creating subtle narratives that take their time to unfold,” she tells us. So, for the prize, she submitted images that “portray something that is close to my heart: my relationship with Vietnam as a second-generation immigrant.” Considering aspects such as “variation in visual interest, light sources, and storytelling,” but most important of all, trusting her intuition, Trâm collected a body of work that the jury loved. 

Now, handed the opportunity to show her images to the world through this platform, she wants to “connect with new like-minded people” and, furthermore, work more “with stories related to alienation and loss” — for instance, “my interest in the role of Catholicism in Vietnam has reignited after perceiving my family’s rituals from a more objective perspective.”

Migration is at the core of Zélie Hallosserie’s work. Through documentary photography and intimate portraits, the French photographer shows the harsh reality that refugees have to endure in the North of France, especially in Calais, the last town in the France-UK border. Coming from war-torn places like Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Eritrea, these people just want to find a better place to work, live, and thrive — something that European laws are harshly punishing.

Still an ongoing series, Hallosserie’s The Game is “the main project I am working on right now,” so presenting it for the prize was a no brainer. “It is the one that I put the most effort in and that means the most to me. Because of that, the choice was pretty obvious.” What became a harder task was to choose what pictures captured the struggle of refugees best: “Since it is still an ongoing work, I had to chose from a large number of photographs that I had made and am still making. As a result, I’d say my criteria was to be efficient: how to make this story understandable and impactful for the viewers.” 

Even if the opportunity to be shortlisted for the prize is huge, Zélie remains cautious. “I try not to have too high expectations and not thinking too much about it. I know this opportunity could open doors, but I prefer to focus on what’s within my control right now,” she comments.