The On The Right Track (OTRT) Photography Contest was created as an invitation to narrate resistances through images, placing bodies, territories, and everyday practices of resistance at the center. In a global context marked by the rise of the far right, fundamentalisms, and the criminalization of social movements, we chose photography as a political and sensitive tool, and as a form of collective memory.

Throughout this call, we received images documenting marches, gestures, gazes, and moments of shared dignity. Photographs that do not merely record what happens, but take a stance, build narrative, and sustain an archive for present and future struggles.

Today, we announce the winners of this edition.

🥇 First Prize: Laura Petretta (Italy)

Laura Petretta is 32 years old, lives in Avellino, Italy, and has worked as a photographer for many years. While she covers private events and social photography projects, her greatest passion is documenting strikes, protests, and mobilizations.

The award-winning photograph was taken during a demonstration and represents, in her words, the strength of women united for a just cause. Laura waited for the precise moment when a group of young women ran toward her, filled with joy, anger, and hope. The result is a vibrant image where collective movement becomes a political gesture.

“I waited for the exact moment when all these young women ran toward me, with joy, anger, and hope.”

Her image embodies the power of collective action and photography’s ability to capture the emotional pulse of feminist struggles.

Béla Váradi is a queer and Romani photographer based in London, who has been documenting queer movements in the United Kingdom and Hungary for years. His recent work includes coverage of the Pécs Pride, banned by Hungarian authorities and ultimately held thanks to community organizing, despite the potential legal consequences for those involved.

In previous projects, Béla has explored the identities and intersecting struggles of LGBTQIA+ GRT (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller) communities. His work has been exhibited in various European spaces, including Queer Britain in London, Berlin, Hungary, and the Triennale di Milano.

The award-winning photograph was taken during Brighton Trans Pride 2025. Although the encounter with the person portrayed was brief, Béla captured something essential: strength, dignity, and trans joy amid deeply challenging life contexts.

“Their confidence, their trans joy, and their unapologetic embodiment were deeply moving.”

The image reflects resilience, radical tenderness, and political power, values that run through many queer and trans communities in resistance.

🥉 Third Prize: Alejandra García (Mexico)

Alejandra García is a documentary photographer based in Monterrey, Mexico. She began documenting feminist movement marches as a form of militancy and active presence in the actions of her peers and collectives. Over time, this gesture also became the construction of a personal and community archive, capable of showing other faces of feminist organizing.

Her award-winning photograph was taken in front of the Government Palace, as a young woman waved a flag surrounded by women, girls, and sexual diversity collectives. Alejandra gave no directions: she asked for consent, and the rest was decided by the person portrayed.

The result is a powerful, colorful, and symbol-laden portrait, where rebellion and tenderness coexist as active parts of the struggle.

📷 Photography, Memory, and Political Communication

This contest reaffirms a core conviction of On The Right Track: communication is not only dissemination, it is strategy, care, and the construction of political memory. The selected images remind us that resistances are not only analyzed, they are also felt, seen, and remembered.

We extend our deep gratitude to everyone who participated and shared their perspective. This collective archive will remain alive, accompanying the alliance’s processes and the struggles sustained by feminist and social justice movements across different territories; Interregional feminist alliances to sustain resistance.