These 23 Street Photos Won The 2026 Macadam Awards’ Attention By Catching The Unexpected

To find out more about this year’s competition and what goes into selecting the winning photographs, Bored Panda reached out to Stéphane Kyndt, founder of Street Macadam. We were curious about what stood out to him in this year’s submissions, what makes a street photograph memorable, and what he hopes photographers take away from the Macadam Awards.

When asked what stood out most about this year’s photographs, Kyndt highlighted the increasingly international nature of the competition and the importance of keeping it accessible to photographers from different backgrounds. He also spoke about the competition’s focus on real-world photography at a time when AI-generated images are becoming increasingly common."

"Of course, I also received messages from photographers who wanted to participate but simply couldn’t afford the entry fee. Whenever I could, I asked them to send me one photograph for free. For me, it’s important that money shouldn’t be the reason why a photographer doesn’t get the chance to be seen.

And I think this is reflected in the photographs themselves. You get such a wide range of perspectives, cultures and environments. But at the same time, the photographs have something in common: they are really about the street and about documenting what happens in front of us."

"That’s also something I care about very much with the Macadam Awards. We are a competition dedicated to street photography and documentary photography. We don’t have categories for AI-generated images. At a time when we’re seeing AI being introduced even into competitions that are supposed to celebrate street photography, I think it’s important for us to remain very clear about what we are judging: photographs made by photographers, observing the real world.”

Beyond technical skill, Kyndt said the judges were looking for photographs with a strong point of view – images that make the viewer stop, feel something, or look twice. He also emphasized the value of having a diverse group of judges with different photographic styles and perspectives.

“I think, beyond the technical side, we were really looking for a strong point of view. For me, a great photograph is not necessarily the most technically perfect one. It’s the one that makes you feel something, or makes you stop and look at it for a little longer.

We were looking for images that had something unexpected in them — maybe a gesture, a relationship between people, a coincidence, the light, or simply the way all the elements come together in the frame.

And sometimes, the quieter images are the ones that stay with you. They don’t necessarily reveal everything immediately. You look at them, then you look again, and you discover something new. I think that was very important in the final selection."

"Another thing that was very important to me was the diversity of the Jury of Honor itself. The five photographers come from different countries, with completely different artistic sensibilities and very different photographic styles. They are all internationally recognized photographers, but they don’t necessarily look at photography in the same way. I think that diversity is a real strength, because it means that the final selection comes from five very different perspectives rather than from one particular vision of what street photography should be.

And I think the work done by the first-round jury also deserves to be mentioned. They are all experienced photographers themselves, with very different backgrounds, sensitivities and photographic styles. Their job was not easy at all, because they had to go through a very large number of submissions and narrow them down to the 150 finalists.

When you have so many strong images coming from all over the world, making those choices is a real challenge. Each judge brings their own way of looking at photography, so reaching that first selection required a lot of time, attention and discussion. I think the quality and diversity of the photographers involved in both rounds of judging is a real strength of the Macadam Awards.”

For Kyndt, the most memorable street photographs capture something genuine and unexpected. He also enjoys images that leave room for interpretation, allowing different viewers to see completely different stories in the same photograph.

“For me, it’s often about capturing something real and unexpected – something you couldn’t really plan. A look, a gesture, a touch, a funny coincidence… You just have to be there and be ready to see it.

But I think there is also something very interesting about the fact that street photographs can work in completely different ways.

Some photographs speak for themselves. You look at them and immediately understand the moment or the emotion. And then you have other photographs where you’re not really sure what is happening.

You can look at them several times and come up with completely different stories."

"I really like that duality. Sometimes you don’t need to explain anything, and sometimes the photograph leaves space for the viewer to imagine and interpret it in their own way.

Two people can look at the same image and see something completely different.

And I think that’s one of the reasons street photography can connect people so easily. The photograph might have been taken on a particular street, in a particular city, but the emotions can be universal — humour, loneliness, tenderness, curiosity, surprise…

For me, that combination is what makes street photography so interesting.

It can be very simple and immediate, but at the same time incredibly complex.

And when a photograph stays in your mind after you’ve stopped looking at it, I think that’s when you know you have something special.”

Finally, the founder explained that the Macadam Awards are intended to be more than just a competition. He spoke about the partners and opportunities available to selected photographers, as well as his long-term dream of bringing the international street photography community together through a Street Macadam festival.

“I would say that the Macadam Awards is becoming much more than just a photography competition. We’re really trying to build something around street photography, and I’m very proud of the partners who have chosen to support us.

For example, we have RCE, the second-hand camera stores, who have supported us from the very beginning and provide the first prize."

"We also have WANDRD, which makes, in my eyes, some of the best camera bags in the world. Having partners like these gives the competition a real impact and also shows that people in the photography world are starting to believe in what we’re doing. This year, we also have “revue EPIC”, which will publish the 26 winning photographs in their December 2026 issue. For me, having the work presented in a high-quality magazine like that is a really important step, and it’s also a recognition of the quality of the photographs we are selecting.

And the three winners will also have the opportunity to be exhibited at two different festivals — the “Rome Photo Festival” in Italy and the “MX Photo Festival” in Mexico. I think that gives the awards a really international dimension.

We’ve also had the support of “All About Photo” for the last two editions. They publish a very well-written article about the winners on their website and share the work on their Instagram, which gives the photographers another opportunity to reach a much wider audience."

"So, I think what I would like photographers to know is that when they enter the Macadam Awards, they’re not simply sending a photograph into a competition. There is a real effort behind it to give the selected photographers visibility, opportunities and an audience.

And hopefully, as the awards continue to grow, we can keep building this community and giving street photographers from everywhere a place where their work can be seen and appreciated.

And I think that behind the Macadam Awards, there is actually a dream that I’ve had from the very beginning. One day, I would love to create a Street Macadam Festival and bring our community together in one place. Photographers from all over the world, meeting for a few days around the same passion – street & documentary photography.”