Gens d’Images has announced that the Prix Niépce Gens d’images has been awarded to Ed Alcock.
Ed Alcock is a Franco-British photographer, born on 11 April 1974 in Norwich in the United Kingdom.
In 1999, he was awarded the prize for best young photographer of the year by The Guardian and The Independent. He moved to Paris in 2000 and became a correspondent for The New York Times.
Today, he works with the French and international press, including The Economist, Elle, Le Monde, Le Nouvel Obs and El Pais.
He has been a member of the MYOP agency since 2011.
His projects explore the themes of family, transmission and identity. His notable series include Hobbledehoy, Love Lane and The Wait. In Home, sweet home, he spent four years exploring the upheaval caused by the Brexit.
His series Sterile chronicles life during the 2020 pandemic.
Ed Alcock’s application was sponsored by Dominique Gaessler, publisher of photography books at Trans Photographic Press, which he founded in 1998.
‘My photographic practice is an intimate and narrative exploration of reality. It aims to weave links between the individual and his or her emotional, political or symbolic environment. It is in this porous zone, between documentary and auto-fiction, that I construct my images, with particular attention paid to light, the ambiguity of gestures and fragmentary narration.’ Ed Alcock
Created in 1955 by Albert Plécy, the Prix Niépce Gens d’images was the first prize for professional photography launched in France. Its founder’s twofold aim was to bring photographers out of anonymity and to help them spread their influence among the general public, notably through the press and publishing.
Each year, the Prix Niépce Gens d’images honours the work of an established photographer under the age of 50 who is French or has lived in France for more than three years. It is supported by the French Ministry of Culture and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
In 2025, the Prix Niépce Gens d’images is endowed with €15,000, shared equally by the ADAGP, Picto Foundation and the French Ministry of Culture.
The 2025 winner of the Niépce Prize will benefit from :
– A Gens d’images workshop: a conference organised in Paris in June 2025, in the ADAGP auditorium, to present the winner’s work.
– An exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale de France François Mitterrand, from December 2025 to February 2026,
and an exhibition at the Jeu de Paume Tours in summer 2026, supported by the French Ministry of Culture.
– An exhibition from January to March 2027, with royalties of €2,000, organised by the Galerie Dityvon – Université d’Angers.
– The acquisition of prints by the BnF’s Department of Prints and Photography.
