Street photography has a way of making ordinary life feel anything but ordinary. A fleeting expression, an unusual shadow, a perfectly timed coincidence, or a small interaction between strangers can become the kind of image that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it.
The Pure Street Photography Awards celebrate exactly those moments, bringing together photographers who document life as it unfolds around them. After featuring the competition’s winners and finalists last year, we’re returning to see what caught the judges’ attention in the 2026 edition. This year, the competition received 1,582 photographs from photographers across 50 countries. Eight winning photographers were selected across two categories by a pair of respected names in photography: Fiona Shields, Head of Photography at The Guardian, judged the Open Category, while internationally acclaimed street photographer Rui Palha judged the Black & White Category.
Below, we’ve gathered a selection of winning and finalist photographs from this year’s competition. Scroll down to explore the images and the stories behind them, and let us know which photographs stood out to you the most.
