Belmond Names Jury for 2026 Photo Award

Belmond, the luxury travel company owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has named the jury for its 2026 Belmond Photo Award. The panel includes photographers Tyler Mitchell and Chris Rhodes, along with Sarah Meister and Arnaud Champenois, according to WWD.

Meister is executive director of Aperture, the New York photography foundation and publisher. Champenois is senior vice president of brand marketing and communication at Belmond.

The award was previously known as the Belmond Photography Residency. It is open to early-career artists and is described by the company as a prize for photographers who want to turn familiar ideas about travel photography on their head. This year it drew more than 2,000 applications.

The jury meets in New York this week to choose a winner. The result will be announced during Paris Photo, the photography art fair that runs from 12 to 15 November 2026 at the Grand Palais in Paris. The winner will receive a residency at a Belmond property and financial support to make a new body of work.

Belmond is also hosting a preview and book launch in New York for "Splendido, A Belmond Hotel, Portofino," photographed by Chris Rhodes. The event takes place in the new Aperture space.

For photographers, the practical point is the prize itself. A residency gives a working artist time and a place to make new pictures, and the money covers the cost of making them. For the hotel group, the award puts its name beside a photography foundation and a major fair, which is the kind of link brands in the luxury sector often seek when they work with artists.

Belmond has not said how many finalists will be shortlisted or how the jury will weigh entries. Little else about the selection process has been made public.