Hariban Award – International Collotype Competition 2025
Since 2014, the International Photography Competition HARIBAN AWARD has been held annually, and the twelfth edition was held in 2025. The competition has received a total of approximately 3,300 entries to date and the recognition of the competition is growing every year.
In its prime in the mid-1900s, collotype was a common monotone printing technique used to print items such as yearbooks. Although it was replaced afterward by the rapidly-growing color printing technology, Benrido succeeded the heritage of collotype in a solemn mission “to utilize collotype in creating quality replicas of cultural artifacts which will remain for coming generations.”
Since around 2000, the company has adopted a new vision, promoting efforts to employ collotype in artworks and collaboration with photographers. One such initiative is the Hariban Award. In this one-of-a-kind competition, winner of the Grand Prize is awarded a two-week residency at Benrido and a solo exhibition of their work in the following year. The experience of seeing one’s own work being printed by collotype is surely a new experience for artists. However, an even more important element of this project is that those of us at Benrido who are involved in collotype and art receive a great deal of inspiration from the artists.
Award:
Two-week Residency
– The Grand Prize Winner will collaborate with the Master Printer of the Benrido Collotype Atelier during the stay in Kyoto. Working closely with printers, the Winner will produce eight collotype prints of the award-winning works.
– The Grand Prize Winner will learn about the origins of the collotype and how it is made through the Collotype Academy’s collotype hand-printing workshop. The winner will receive one postcard-size plate and one 8×10 inch plate at the beginning of the workshop.
– An artist talk and social event will be held with Benrido’s staff and craftspeople.
Solo Exhibition
The 2025 Grand Prize Winner’s collotype prints will be exhibited in a solo exhibition held in the spring of the following year after their residency is complete.
Publication of the artwork in the official catalogue
The winner’s artwork will be included in the official catalogue of the Hariban Award 2025, to be published in April 2026.
Deadline: 15th June 2025
