A Distinctive Part of the Xposure Programme
The Legacy Awards serve as a dedicated recognition platform for curated exhibitions, separate from the festival’s wider award programmes. They reflect Xposure’s longstanding commitment to powerful visual storytelling, environmental awareness and creative innovation.
By honouring excellence across documentary truth, natural world conservation and artistic imagination, the Legacy Awards represent the foundation of Xposure’s mission to inspire, inform and connect audiences through photography.
The Noor Ali Rashid Legacy Award for Documentary Vision
Named in honour of Noor Ali Rashid, widely regarded as the father of photojournalism in the United Arab Emirates, this award pays tribute to his lifelong commitment to recording the region’s people, culture and history. His legacy of close, sustained engagement with society underpins the values of accuracy, empathy and responsibility that define this distinction.
The award recognises exhibitions that address conflict, displacement, inequality and lived human experience with clarity, depth and integrity. Eligible projects are drawn from the Documentary, Social Photojournalism and Photojournalism War and Tragedies themes, and highlight photographers who combine strong narrative insight with a disciplined documentary approach.
The Beeah Award for Environmental & Conservation Photography
The Beeah Award for Environmental & Conservation Photography recognises exhibitions devoted to environmental, ecological and conservation-based storytelling. Presented in partnership with Beeah, a regional and global leader in sustainability and environmental innovation, the award reflects a commitment to responsible stewardship of the natural world.
This award celebrates photographic projects that explore nature, wildlife, marine environments and ecosystems under pressure. It honours photographers whose work raises awareness of environmental change, biodiversity loss, climate impact and the fragile balance between human activity and the planet.
The Saleh Al Ustad Award for Creative Photography
Named after one of the earliest fine art photographers in the United Arab Emirates, the Saleh Al Ustad Award reflects his imaginative use of colour, light and cultural reference. It honours exhibitions that embrace experimentation in form, composition and concept, and that use photography as a space for invention and interpretive thinking.
The award includes exhibitions from the Fine Art and Creative Expression, People and Portraiture, Travel and Adventure, Urban and Street Life and Sports and Action themes. These projects are distinguished by a strong personal vision and a considered visual language, showing how photographers shape mood, narrative and atmosphere through creative photographic practice.
Juding guide - jury briefings
Noor Ali Rashid Award
Award Purpose
This award recognises outstanding documentary and photojournalistic exhibitions that reveal real events and lived experience shaped by social and political forces
What Jurors Should Prioritise
• Accuracy, authenticity and ethical representation
• Narrative strength and coherence across the full exhibition
• Clarity of context through captions, sequencing and supporting text to ensure images are understood as intended
• Insight into people, communities or situations that are often overlooked
• Sensitivity when portraying hardship, conflict or trauma
• Visual craft that supports the story without overshadowing it
• Depth of access, trust and sustained commitment by the photographer
Evaluation Focus
Jurors should consider how effectively the work communicates truth, provides understanding and elevates the voices of those represented. The strongest exhibitions show evidence of long-term engagement, emotional intelligence and an ability to frame difficult subjects with fairness and respect.
Beeah Award
Award Purpose
This award recognises outstanding environmental and conservation-focused exhibitions that deepen public understanding of ecosystems, biodiversity, climate impact and the relationship between human activity and the natural world.
What Jurors Should Prioritise
• Clarity and accuracy of the environmental or conservation narrative
• Evidence of ecological change, pressure, resilience or recovery, shown through visual storytelling
• Subject knowledge and contextual integrity, avoiding simplification or visual cliché
• Respectful representation of wildlife, habitats and affected communities, with responsible field ethics
• Narrative coherence across the full exhibition, including captions and sequencing
• Visual craft that supports understanding, whether through scientific precision, atmosphere, or both
• A sense of consequence, showing why the subject matters now and what is at stake
Evaluation Focus
Jurors should consider how effectively the exhibition builds understanding and emotional connection without exaggeration or sentimentality. The strongest work combines visual excellence with ecological insight, uses context to support credibility, and leaves the viewer with a clearer sense of what is changing, why it matters and what must be protected.
Saleh Al Ustad Award
Award Purpose
This award recognises outstanding exhibitions that demonstrate artistic vision, creative intent and expressive use of photography. It honours work that uses the photographic medium to explore ideas, emotion, identity, place or form, prioritising interpretation and visual language over documentation.
What Jurors Should Prioritise
• Clarity of artistic intent and conceptual framework
• Strength and coherence of the visual language across the full exhibition
• Originality of approach in subject matter, form, sequencing or technique
• The ability of the work to sustain emotional or intellectual engagement
• Thoughtful use of composition, colour, light, space and pacing as expressive tools
• Consistency between concept, image making and presentation
• Confidence of authorship and a clear personal voice
Evaluation Focus
Jurors should consider how effectively the exhibition functions as a unified body of work rather than a collection of individual images. The strongest exhibitions demonstrate refined visual judgement, sustained creative logic and an ability to invite interpretation without relying heavily on explanation. The award favours work that rewards close looking and reveals depth over time.