Announcing the GradFoto 2025 Winner and Finalists
The Ballarat International Foto Biennale is proud to announce the winner and finalists of GradFoto 2025, showcasing the work of 20 emerging artists from 10 universities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Launched in 2020, this annual award celebrates exceptional graduating artists whose practice includes photography, offering vital early-career exposure to national and international audiences.
This year’s award was judged by Daniella Zalcman, a documentary photographer and the founder of Women Photograph, an international nonprofit working to elevate the voices of women and nonbinary visual journalists. Reflecting on the submissions, Zalcman shared, ‘What a pleasure it was to look through this wide-ranging series of projects… I was blown away by the skill and storytelling capacity of this work.’
The GradFoto 2025 prize of $1,000 is awarded to Minh An Pham (RMIT University) for his series Rồi một ngày con sẽ mất – Someday I will lose you. Zalcman said, ‘This work is so poignant and soulful… The visual voice is very strong, giving us ethereal glimpses into the photographer’s home and the tenderness he feels for his mother.’
Pham’s project reflects on years spent living away from his family after moving to Australia at age 15. Through photographs made during visits home, he ‘reflect[s] on my family’s past, on our losses and pains, on my late father, and on the great sacrifices of a single mother who worked tirelessly to raise me and my brother alone’. He writes: ‘Dear Mom, I hope you will always be healthy and stay by my side… I hope that in the next life, I will still be your child.’
Responding to the award, Pham said, ‘Winning this award has meant a lot to me. It gives me the confidence to keep developing my practice and sharing the stories I feel called to tell. I also want to send my thanks to the judge, Daniella Zalcman, for their kind words and Ballarat Foto, especially Christine [Ballarat Foto’s Education & Public Engagement Coordinator], for organising this amazing opportunity.’
To acknowledge the depth of talent among this year’s submissions, Zalcman also recognised four Highly Commended finalists: Angus Scott, Daniela Rodriguez, Kevin Bernardin and Michaela Ottone.
The finalists are: Ashlee Whitehead, Chelsea Wong, Felix Oliver, Hà Huyền Trang, Isabel Harris, Joel Potter, Leila Edelstein, Martha Bizimana, Matte Dixon, Sabrina Trombini, Thomas Lord, Victoria Rowse, Yao Tong, Yuhang Wang, and Yutong Chen.
Thank you to all students who submitted their work in this year’s GradFoto Award.