Dicte Sønnichsen was announced the winner of the 2026 ECCA – DMJX Photojournalism Award at the award ceremony at DMJX Tuesday, August 25, 2026. With the main prize comes 100,000 Danish Kroner to continue her project Untamed Lands. The three runner-up projects by Sigrid Ellesøe, Thea Tønnesvang, Zifan Zhang and August Vinther each receive 30,000 Danish Kroner.
“Dicte’s powers of observation reveal themselves in the smallest details; she has a masterful ability to capture a contradiction on a small scale; a girl’s hand touching a warm horse, while the nail polish is missing from one finger. Her images exert a pull that the viewer cannot resist. One is captivated, transported to that “untamed land” even though Dicte herself is not present. With her camera, she has merely opened the door to this community – or rather, cracked it open just a tiny bit. For there is so much more lying beyond it. We want to know more about this America, to see and understand it, Dicte. Show it to us!”
– Amélie Schneider, jury member and director of photography, Die Zeit
Dicte Sønnichsen made the project during her fourth term in the spring 2025 and with the grant money, she will continue to follow the girl’s community in the following years.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
August Vinther, Zifan Zhang, Dicte Sønnichsen and Thea Tønnesvang. Sigrid Ellesøe was not able to attend the ceremony due to work. Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
Before the main winner was announced, the four nominees presented their projects to the DMJX photojournalism students.
‘Push Start’ is a documentary film, portraying the twin brothers Karl and Thomas and their path from their early teen years to adulthood. Karl and Thomas grow up on the small island Fur in the north of Denmark. They spend all their free time together in their father’s truck workshop, fixing vehicles and broken mopeds, both dreaming of following the footsteps of their father. But as Karl and Thomas grow older, things are changing. At the age of 16, they have to leave the island to pursue their similar, yet individual, dreams for the future. The movie was made by Sigrid Ellesøe and Thea Tønnesvang during their third term video documentary in the fall 2023 and continued as their BA-project in the fall 2025.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
Following the 2024 Crocus City Hall attack, Russia tightened migration policies and deported thousands of Tajik workers, disrupting a migration system vital to Tajikistan’s economy and many families’ survival. Back in Dushanbe, deportees compete for scarce, poorly paid construction jobs as debt and family separation deepen. With the “Russian Dream” fading, some young Tajiks are beginning to look toward China as a powerful but uncertain alternative. Zifan Zhang made Fading Dream as his final Diploma Project in the fall 2025. Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
In the American West, girls are raised by their fathers to be self-reliant. From a young age, they learn how to drive a pickup truck so that they later can haul their horses in a trailer. These are girls whose biggest wish for their 21st birthday is a handgun. Girls who have never left the country or seen the ocean. They’ve been on horseback for as long as they can remember and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. They are deeply connected to the land and nature – and they’re all part of the same rodeo team in Colorado. Dicte Sønnichsen made the project as her fourth term documentary in the spring 2025.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
For as long as she can remember, 23-year-old Olivia has dreamt of having a woman’s body. But Denmark’s healthcare system won’t let her get there before her youth has passed her by. The project documents Olivia’s body and mind before, during and after her gender-affirming surgery.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
The celebration of the winners took place after the award ceremony at the DMJX terrace with a social gathering for all photojournalism students.
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
Photo: Søren Pagter/DMJX
The ECCA – DMJX Photojournalism Award is an bi-annual grant funded by the ECCA Family Foundation to support the continuation and publication of projects made by photojournalism students at DMJX.
35 projects were submitted for 2026 ECCA-DMJX Photojournalism Award and the four winners were selected by a jury consisting of:
Rehab Eldalil, documentary photographer and educator
Amélie Schneider, director of photography, Die Zeit
Alex Dahldorph, grants and partnership associate, ECCA Family Foundation
Mads Greve, associate professor, DMJX photojournalism
Søren Pagter, associate professor and educational coordinator, DMJX photojournalism
Previous recipients of the ECCA-DMJX Photojournalism Award
2024
Main winner:
Florine Schmid and Marie Ruwet – With Nature on Our Side
Runner-ups:
Liv Møller Kastrup and Rikke Kjær Poulsen – Do You See, What I See
Mohamed Mahdy – Here, The Doors Don’t Know Me
Christian Falck Wolff – Generation Climate
2022
Main winner:
Louise Herrche Serup and Sarah Hartvigsen Juncker – You Still Don’t Know My Name
Runner-ups:
Mikkel Hørlyck – No Man’s Land
Fares Zaitoon – Stranger Tourist
Manuel Seoane – Panoramics of Disaster