2027 Judges

Monica Allende 

Independent Curator and Photography Consultant, Chair of the Jury

Monica Allende is a curator, creative director, consultant, and educator with a distinguished international career in contemporary photography and visual storytelling. She is the Creative Director of The Blue Skies Project, a multidisciplinary collaboration with artist Anton Kusters currently on display at the V&A. Allende is also curating the annual Sony World Photography Awards exhibition at Somerset House and is working as Creative Director with Laia Abril on a new project exploring women political prisoners. Previously, she was the Photo Editor at The Sunday Times Magazine, where she launched Spectrum, its award-winning photography section. A passionate advocate for emerging and established visual storytellers, Allende regularly serves as a juror for international awards and artists’ residencies. She advises on curatorial practices and currently sits on the Boards of Trustees and advisory boards of The Photographers’ Gallery (London) and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation.

Image by Mauricio Holc

Candice Jansen

Manager, New Archival Visions Programme, University of the Western Cape (South Africa)

Candice Jansen, PhD practices in photography as a writer, curator, scholar, educator and photographer. Her scholarship on photography has contributed to the archives, documentation, history, and teaching of understudied histories of the medium in Africa. Jansen’s curation and research has supported the development of public image collections at key institutions for African photography in South Africa. Her work includes the anthology on photographic legacies, Black Photo Libraries (2021) and the photobook, The House of Story (2023). Currently Jansen is the Programme Manager of New Archival Visions, an initiative incubated by the Centre for Humanities Research to promote research archives at the University of the Western Cape.

Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo

Photographer & Editor at Raya Editorial (Colombia)

Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo is a photographer and editor at Raya Editorial, as well as an architect holding an MA in Photography and Urban Cultures from Goldsmiths. He is the founder of 20Fotógrafos, Mesas de Edición, and AÑZ: Fotografía Expandida de Latinoamérica. He has worked as the Visual Curator for the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia. In 2022, he was an NFT Resident at Voice & PhotoVogue and a TEDx Speaker. His work has received international recognition, including the First Publication Prize at FUTURA Felifa in 2018 and the POY Latam 'Nuestra Mirada' Award, and has been selected at numerous festivals and exhibitions, including FOTO Bali Festival 2026; JIPFest 2026; Photometria 2025; Belfast Photo Festival 2025; Rotterdam Photo 2025; CAIROTRONICA 2025; Angkor Photo Festival 2025; BIFA 2024; and “Fotogalerías” at the Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo (CDF) among others. He is the author of photobooks El pez muere por la boca (The Fish Dies by Its Mouth); Colombia, Tierra de Luz (Land of Light), Lucía, Patria o Muerte and Elefante Blanco (White Elephant). 

Amanda Renshaw

Independent Curator, Writer and Publishing Consultant (UK)

An art historian by training, Amanda Renshaw has collaborated with many of the world’s leading artists, art historians, intellectual and creative figures and has worked closely with a wide range of photographers including Albarran & Cabrera, Roger Ballen, David Doubilet, Danny Lyon, Mary Ellen Mark, Steve McCurry, Joel Meyerowitz, James Nachtwey, Martin Parr, Eugene Richards and Stephen Shore. Prior to over 20 years as the Editorial Director of Phaidon Press, Renshaw was a specialist in the Impressionist and Modern Department at Christie’s in both London and Paris. She started her career in the Education Department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. She is the author of several books, including the internationally acclaimed Art Book for Children.

Peipei Han

Director of Exhibitions, Fotografiska Shanghai (China)

Peipei Han has previously worked as independent curator, curating numerous art and design exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as writing a wide range of contemporary art articles for international publications. She graduated from the University of the Arts London with an MA in Media, Communications, and Critical Practice. From 2015, Han managed five editions of the leading Asia-Pacific platform for photography and moving images — PHOTOFAIRS | Shanghai. With years of expertise in contemporary visual art, she became the Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska Shanghai in 2023 where she oversees all programming of shows in the Shanghai venue of the Institution, and the soon to be open Shenzhen museum in September 2026.

Pauline Vermare

Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography, Brooklyn Museum (USA)

Pauline Vermare is the Phillip and Edith Leonian Curator of Photography at the Brooklyn Museum. Previously, she served as the cultural director of Magnum Photos in New York, and as a curator at the International Center of Photography (ICP) and The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She formerly worked at the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris. Vermare is a photography historian and a co-curator of "I’m So Happy You Are Here: Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now", a travelling exhibition organized by Aperture, that premiered at the Rencontres d'Arles in 2024 and was recently presented at the Photographers' Gallery, London, Bunkamura Hikarie Hall, Tokyo, and ICP, New York.

Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen

Managing Director, Copenhagen Photo Festival (Denmark)

Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen has been Managing Director of Copenhagen Photo Festival since 2016. As a director she aims for the unconventional meeting between photography and people, between the newcomers and established voices, within a broad definition of photography. She has a strong focus on international and long-term collaborations across Europe, and has worked with many Danish and  international art and photography institutions, festivals and photographers as a jury member, portfolio reviewer, curator and project manager. She has led numerous photography-based projects with partners across the cultural industries, and has over 20 years of experience in the field.

Menno Liauw

Founder and Director of the FUTURES Foundation (Netherlands)

Menno Liauw is founder and director of the FUTURES Foundation, one of Europe’s leading platforms for contemporary photography and visual culture. For over 20 years, he has worked as a strategic consultant, cultural entrepreneur, and initiator of international collaborations. His work focuses on creating sustainable structures that enable artists to develop their practice, expand their networks, and increase their impact on society.