Global Peace Photo Award 2024: “Dreams of Childhood” Honored as Peace Photo of the Year
The Global Peace Photo Award ceremony took place in the Austrian Parliament. The peace photo of the year 2024, “Dreams of Childhood”, by photographer and multimedia artist Elisa Iannacone from the UK, was honored.
Elisa Iannacone with her award-winning work “Dreams of Childhood”, honored as Peace Photo of the Year 2024 at the Global Peace Photo Award. / Picture: © Parlamentsdirektion/Ulrike Wieser
The moving series of pictures shows chronically ill children in the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital in South Africa. In imaginative collages, Iannacone visualized the dreams and wishes of the children, who are unable to experience a carefree childhood due to their illness. In one of the pictures, a child floats in a fairytale-like hospital room, impressively depicting the dreams and hopes of the young patients. The series of pictures is characterized by a mixture of joy and childlike playfulness, although the children's reality is often characterized by pain and restrictions.
The award was presented by National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka together with the Vienna Peace Foundation. In his speech, Sobotka emphasized how important it is to resolve conflicts through dialogue and to underline the importance of initiatives that focus on peace. The award is intended to honor photographers who draw attention to peace and conflict issues through their work and at the same time convey hope for a more peaceful world.
In addition to Iannacone's “Dreams of Childhood”, other works were also honored. These included the children's peace picture by Daria Heß from Germany, which shows a young girl jumping joyfully in a forest landscape. Women, Life, Freedom” by Maryam Saeedpoor from Iran also received a prize. Her photographs deal with the subject of the hijab and the freedom of women in Iran. Danila Tkachenko from Italy and Russia was honored for his series “Inversion”, which shows destroyed buildings in Ukraine in front of iconic European tourist attractions. Another award-winning work was “The Dancer” by Antonio Aragón Renuncio from Spain, which shows a child with a disability in a wheelchair dancing with joy and waiting for a new orthosis.
In total, over 21,000 images from 112 countries were submitted this year. The Global Peace Photo Award was first launched in 2013 and has since developed into one of the most important awards for peace photography. The winning images are exhibited in the Austrian Parliament for one year and are intended to make an important contribution to raising awareness of global peace.
In his opening speech, Lois Lammerhuber, founder and organizer of the award, spoke about the importance of peace photography in a world that is increasingly characterized by conflict and insecurity. He emphasized that the increasing number of submissions also reflects the growing longing for peace. In her keynote speech, peace activist Rosa Logar called for more funding for peace initiatives and proposed the creation of a dedicated Ministry of Peace. She emphasized that there is an urgent need to give peace more space in political and social discussions to find sustainable solutions.
The award ceremony took place in front of an audience of international guests, photographers, and political representatives and was also supported by UNICEF Austria, which focused on the rights and well-being of children in the context of peace. The award-winning works should serve as inspiring examples that peace is not only an absence of war but can also be achieved through creativity, empathy, and hope.