The Sharjah International Photography Festival launches new awards for documentary, artistic and natural heritage
Sharjah, January 25, WAM / The International Photography Festival “Xposure 2026”, organized by the Sharjah Government Media Office during the period from January 29 to February 4, announced the launch of the “Xposure Legacy Awards” as a new cultural initiative concerned with honoring exhibitions that celebrate visual narrative as a sustainable cognitive impact.
These awards are a qualitative addition that are launched for the first time during the tenth session of the “Exposure 2026” festival and are granted exclusively to exhibitions participating within the official program of the festival.
The “Xposure Heritage Awards,” which are held under the slogan “A Decade of Visual Storytelling,” are divided into three main categories: “Noor Ali Rashid Award for Documentary Legacy,” “Saleh Al-Ustad Award for Artistic Legacy,” and “Be’ah Award for Natural Heritage Preservation.” The awards adopt an evaluation model that combines public interaction with the critical vision of experts, thus enhancing their cultural credibility. The winners will be revealed during the closing ceremony of the “Exposure 2026” festival on February 4.
Her Excellency Alia Bu Ghanem Al Suwaidi, Director of the Sharjah Government Media Office, said: The Exposure vision for the Heritage Awards stems from an expanded understanding of the concept of cultural heritage, which does not look at the past as an ending time or an isolated historical accumulation, but rather as a living impact that extends across time. The true heritage is what remains present in the consciousness and what continues to teach, interpret, and ask questions, and gives successive generations new tools to understand the world through images. From this standpoint, we believe that visual narrative, when presented with responsibility and knowledge, turns into A human language that crosses borders, capable of building collective memory, deepening human understanding, and enhancing the role of the image as a sustainable cultural and cognitive force.
The award bears the name of the late Emirati photographer Nour Ali Rashid, one of the pioneers of photojournalism in the Emirates, whose work contributed to consolidating the role of the image as a visual testimony to people, places, and social transformations.
The award comes under the slogan “Truth through the Lens” to honor documentary exhibitions that present an honest visual narrative, address human issues in their complex contexts, and contribute to building a visual memory capable of preserving the human experience and transmitting it to future generations.
The Saleh Al-Ustadz Award for Artistic Legacy is dedicated to honoring exhibitions that embody creative excellence and artistic innovation in photography and bears the name of Saleh Al-Ustadz, one of the most prominent pioneers of the artistic movement in the UAE and the founder of a private school in photography. The award celebrates exhibitions that use photography as a platform for imagination and interpretation and expand the horizons of expressive visual narration.
Under the slogan “Protecting Our World,” the Bee’ah Award for the Preservation of Natural Heritage is sponsored by the Bee’ah Group to honor exhibitions that deepen environmental awareness, highlight the beauty and fragility of nature, and support human responsibility towards protecting the environment and preserving natural heritage. The award focuses on visual narrative as an effective tool in promoting sustainability and honors exhibitions that present nature as a living system that requires understanding and protection, and turns the image into a call for contemplation, action, and shared responsibility.
The Exposure Awards, in their various categories, contribute to consolidating the concept of the image as a cultural force that goes beyond being an artistic product and supports artistic works capable of bringing about change.
The tenth session of the International Photography Festival “Xposure” will be held in the Aljada area with the participation of more than 420 photographers, filmmakers and visual artists from various countries of the world, presenting 95 exhibitions containing more than 3,200 artistic works, in addition to a cultural program exceeding 570 events that include specialized dialogues and workshops, confirming Sharjah’s position as a global center for cultural dialogue and visual storytelling.
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