The ENAIRE Foundation announces the results of the 2025 Photography Awards

The ENAIRE Foundation officially announces the winners of the 18th edition of its Photography Awards. Tanit Plana has won the ENAIRE Foundation's First Photography Prize; second Prize goes to Daniel Ochoa, and Third Prize to Françoise Vanneraud. The PHotoESPAÑA (PhE) Special Mention goes to José Quintanilla.

Tanit Plana has won the ENAIRE Foundation's First Photography Prize

As in previous editions, the public will decide who receives the Audience Award via likes through a QRNavilens code and on Fundación ENAIRE’s social media channels.

The winning works, the Special PhE Mention, and the 14 finalists will take part in the group exhibition organised by the ENAIRE Foundation at Naves de Gamazo, its Art Centre in Santander, from 26 June until the end of the year.

Group exhibition of the ENAIRE Foundation Photography Award winners

The group exhibition of the Photography Awards and the exhibition for the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by Fundación ENAIRE will officially open PHotoEspaña 2024 in Santander this year. “This year, to mark the 30th anniversary of the ENAIRE Foundation, we set ourselves the goal of increasing the visibility and understanding of the Foundation’s social role. That’s why we are decentralising culture, democratising access to art, and enhancing the value of the museum space the ENAIRE Foundation manages in Santander, where we will offer the public an unforgettable and innovative experience: the chance to visit, in a magnificent museum space by the shores of the Cantabrian Sea, the exhibition of the Foundation’s Photography Awards and the exhibition of Joan Fontcuberta, winner of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award”, explained Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of the ENAIRE Foundation.

18th Edition of the ENAIRE Foundation Photography Awards

This year, the call for entries for the Fundación ENAIRE Photography Awards was published on 25 February, and the submission period closed on 7 April.

In this new edition of the Photography Awards, 547 professional artists (246 women and 291 men) from 16 nationalities took part, submitting a total of 1,375 photographic proposals.

The specialised jury consisted of:

- José Manuel Ballester, 2010 National Photography Award Winner and 2023 ENAIRE Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.

- Daniel Canogar, an internationally acclaimed visual artist.

- María Santoyo, Director of PHotoESPAÑA.

- Semíramis González, independent curator.

- María Ortega, curator, cultural manager, artist and member of the executive board of MAV (Mujeres en las Artes Visuales - Women in Visual Arts).

- Ángeles Imaña, the ENAIRE Foundation's Conservation and Cultural Projects Manager, acting as secretary.

- Margarita Asuar, Managing Director of Fundación ENAIRE, acting as Chair by delegation of José Antonio Santano, Secretary of State for Transport and President of Fundación ENAIRE.

The Jury met on the morning of 29 May to deliberate and decide the Photography Awards, following a rigorous preselection process in which 30 proposals were shortlisted in the first phase from among the 1,375 photographs submitted.

After deliberation, the Jury of this 18th Edition of the Fundación ENAIRE Photography Awards unanimously decided:

- First prize, worth 12,000 euros: Tanit Plana, for her work Stress position.

The Jury awarded Tanit Plana the First Prize for her work, which condenses—in an image that appears simple yet is dissonant and unsettling—a project that demands not only the remarkable professional and visual skill the artist has consistently demonstrated throughout her career, but also a significant degree of effort and empathy throughout the entire process leading up to the shot. Tanit works from a place of connection and emotional engagement, building trust with the individuals who feature in and co-create her series—people who, as in this case, have suffered or are suffering, often marginalised and invisible. Yet through the respectful dynamic established between subject and photographer, their gestures are distilled and their condition is dignified before the camera.

- Second prize, worth 8,000 euros:  Daniel Ochoa, for his work La Frontera.

This work is a sculptural assemblage of mountain landscape photographs, interwoven to form an infinite circle. The artist’s career links photography with installation strategies rooted in minimalism and other late 20th-century movements, yet the work transcends formal concerns by addressing an issue as vital as the climate emergency. Visually striking, the piece draws us into its centre—a void that speaks to the fragility conveyed by the surrounding photographs.

- Third prize, worth 5,000 euros: Francoise Vanneraud, for her work El eco de las cumbres. Which portrays a landscape fractured by human intervention. What might at first glance appear to be documentary photography of land art—where disconnected, sculptural-looking metal structures interrupt arid yet striking landscapes—is in fact a depiction of the most ignominious architectural action of our time: the construction of unnatural borders to deter migrants. Kilometre-long walls, barbed-wire fences, and legal no-man’s lands—barriers we believed had been consigned to history with the fall of the Berlin Wall—remain the harsh frontiers where the most disadvantaged communities of the Global South continue to collide.

PHotoEspaña special mention: José Quitanilla, for his work Et in Arcadia Ego.

The director of PHotoESPAÑA, María Santoyo, selected this work because “it depicts a landscape altered by human action—something we infer upon closer inspection, as it’s not immediately obvious. This compels us to engage with the photograph more attentively and thoughtfully. The image conveys a sense of tension, a latent mystery, which Quintanilla masterfully translates onto paper through a highly refined methodology, from the initial research and exploration to the final production of the print”. Furthermore, the work conveys an attitude towards the landscape—one that is not necessarily remote or monumental—invoking certain Romantic concepts such as the sublime, that beauty found in chaos and the peril of a nature that, despite everything, continues to dominate us. Through the connection it establishes with the viewer, the image prompts a deeper reflection on the threat our species poses to the natural world. We are also especially pleased to award this special mention to an outstanding artist who is not only highly accomplished, but also a generous collaborator and mentor to many fellow photographers—both established artists and those printing their work for the first time in his studio".

And the 14 finalists selected are:

- Natalia Garcés Fernández, for her work Match Point 01.

- María Cecilia Candiani, for her work Cuarenta (Proyecto: No pude escribir las cartas que te dejé).

- Umberto Diecinove, for his work I N S C T S / Blu Girl.

- Filippo Poli, for his work Matterhorn, 4.478 m.

- María Azkarate, for her work Bilbao After 02.

- Adrià Goula Sardá, for his work Cota 0-Benetusser I.

- Álvaro Martín, for his work r7.

- Gabriel Alejandro Caras Segura, for his work 2 CV.

- Ire Lenes, for her work Titanic.

- German Gómez, for his work Versalles 2.

- Maite Caramés, for her work Anónimo.

- Jens Martin York Christensen, for his work Nido.

- Juliana González, for her work Las Rocas de Castilla.

- Laura San Segundo and Alejandría Cinque, for their work Las hijas de Minerva.

“From the ENAIRE Foundation, we extend our thanks to all 547 artists who entered this new edition of our Photography Award and congratulate the winners. With 18 editions now behind us, we continue to promote the art of photography, and the selection made by the Jury will further highlight the potential of this competition to boost the professional careers within this increasingly challenging cultural sector. As the President of the ENAIRE Foundation said at the 2024 Photography Awards ceremony, the winners are our best ambassadors”, explained the ENAIRE Foundation's Managing Director, Margarita Asuar.

The winning works can be viewed by clicking on this link.

About ENAIRE Foundation

Is a cultural institution of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility that, in addition to managing, preserving and exhibiting the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, engages in a comprehensive annual programme of activities that focus on aeronautical art and culture. Notably, it is one of the institutions that currently provides the most support to photography through its annual prizes - which have become a benchmark for professional photographers - and by hosting exhibits.

It is the only foundation in Spain that combines the two seemingly disparate themes of art and aeronautical culture, bringing them together by undertaking a programme of activities that promote the study, research, knowledge and dissemination of aeronautical culture, integrating history and modernity to raise awareness of the world of aviation in our country.

The Naves de Gamazo are the first permanent home of the ENAIRE Collection of Contemporary Art, an example of collaboration between government agencies that was made possible thanks to the partnership and joint efforts of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the Government of Cantabria, through the Office for Culture, Tourism and Sport, and the Port Authority of Santander, which share the operating expenses of the centre in order to ensure the present and future viability of this cultural project.

ENAIRE Foundation is implementing digital museum resources to boost the democratisation of art and make it accessible from anywhere in the world. These new museum resources are now available on the Foundation's website.

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility, it provides air traffic control services during the en route and approach phases of all flights to and from Spain and overflights. In addition, it manages communications, navigation and surveillance services from ENAIRE in the airspace and the entire AENA airport network in Spain and provides aerodrome air traffic control services in 21 airports, including the busiest.

ENAIRE is the fourth largest European air navigation service provider, and it is a member of international partnerships A6 Alliance, SESAR (Single European Sky ATM Research) Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, iTEC, CANSO (Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation) and collaborates closely with ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization).

ENAIRE has received the highest score in Europe on the aviation safety key performance indicator for four years in a row. It has also been awarded the EFQM 600 Seal for its safe, efficient, innovative and sustainable management of air navigation services.