/ 2026 / Portraiture / Other

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Kirstine Fryd, Denmark
• Date of Photograph
  13 December 2025
• Studio
  Fotograf Kirstine Fryd
• Website
  https://www.kirstinefryd.com
• Instagram
  kirstinefryd

In August 2025, a legislative change allowed Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 22 to leave the country for the first time since the war began. Many seized the opportunity to escape the escalating violence and uncertainty. One of them is twenty-one-year-old Anton Tkach from Dnipro 150 kilometers west of the Donbas front. He found his way to an Asylum Center in Denmark. Back home, he cleared his mind by taking long walks with friends amid the chaos. He carries optimism and hope for the future, he tells, a young engineer-in-training now facing an uncertain world with quiet determination.

Kirstine Fryd is a documentary photographer and visual storyteller based in Denmark. Kirstine holds a MA degree in Photojournalism & Documentary Photography from London College of Communication, University of the Arts London and a MA degree in visual anthropology and journalism from Concordia University, Montreal.

Apart from doing commissioned work Kirstine is engaged in long-term projects with a special interest in portraiture. Her main field of interest to explore the feminine human landscape and the power of photographic storytelling from a female perspective to advocate and illuminate.

Awards 2024: Winner British Journal of Photography - Portrait of Humanity Vol. 6

2023: Danish Picture of the Year - Portrait series