Hasselblad names 2026 Masters winners after record 108,000 submissions

Hasselblad named seven winners of its 2026 Masters competition on June 30, after a year that pushed the contest’s credibility into sharper focus. The competition drew more than 108,000 image submissions from photographers in more than 160 countries and territories, but it was the removal of an AI-tainted Street-category finalist that made this edition feel especially consequential.

Founded in 2001, Hasselblad Masters remains one of the most visible brand-backed stages in still photography, and the 2026 edition moved through a two-stage judging system. An internal jury selected 70 finalists, 10 in each of the seven categories, while a Grand Jury and public voting helped decide the outcome. The Grand Jury included Kalle Sanner, Alex Pollack of National Geographic, Aya Musa of Foam, Paul Lachenauer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rebecca Swift of Getty Images, RongRong of Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Sonia Jeunet of Magnum Photos, and Zack Hatfield of Aperture Magazine.

The AI dispute started soon after the finalists were unveiled in late April. Online commenters on Reddit and Instagram pointed to a Street-category image they believed showed generative-AI artifacts. Hasselblad investigated, confirmed a violation, revoked the finalist’s qualification, and replaced that entry before final judging. The company said it remained committed to the authenticity of photography, a line that now lands with extra weight in a competition that invites both film and digital work, regardless of brand or frame size.

The winners were chosen for conceptual strength, originality, creativity, and technical excellence, not simply for polished files or expensive gear. Each winner received a Hasselblad X2D II 100C, two XCD lenses, and a €5,000 cash prize, along with the title of Hasselblad Master, a book collaboration, and featured placement across Hasselblad’s global channels. One of the headline projects was Yudha Kusuma Putera’s Art-category series Waste Colonialism (Sapi-Sapi Piyungan), a body of work that looks at waste shipped from developed nations to developing countries and the human and environmental pressure around the Piyungan landfill in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

For photographers entering branded contests, this year’s Masters made the rulebook plain. The work still has to stand up as an image first, but now it also has to survive a harder authenticity check, and Hasselblad was willing to reshuffle the finalists to prove it.