2025 HUAWEI XMAGE Awards Ceremony and Annual Exhibition Kicks Off in Paris

The 2025 HUAWEI XMAGE Awards Ceremony and “The World, You and Me” Annual Imaging Exhibition opened on November 12 at the Grand Palais in Paris. The event was jointly hosted with Paris Photo, one of the most prominent photography showcases in the world, and gathered a number of accomplished creators, media representatives, industry leaders, and photography enthusiasts.

Kevin Ho, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, mentioned: ” Through XMAGE, we can use the power of technology and images to better perceive the world, and more gently, to see one another.”

Paris Photo was founded in 1997. The annual event regular attracts over 100,000 attendees. This year’s exhibition represents the third time, after 2018 and 2019, that Paris Photo and Huawei have joined forces to introduce mobile photography to the global art scene, and the first since the company unveiled its barrier-breaking XMAGE brand that made a critical shift from mere technology to cultural storytelling.

This year’s exhibition is based on the theme “The World, You and Me“, and showcases the works of talented creators perceiving, recreating, and interpreting the world around them. The three exhibition areas are titled “I Capture, Therefore I Am”, ” The Constructed, The Perceived”, and “In Their Own Words”, reflecting the competition’s emphasis on visual immersion. All of the works on display grapple with the idea of reimaging the relationship between individuals, their wholly unique perspectives, and the visual worlds they inhabit. In addition to its role as an exhibition, the event will gather many of the leaders in global photography, inspiring new exchanges and connections. This follows Huawei XMAGE’s aspiration to serve as a global platform facilitating artistic exchange for all.

This year’s competition attracted over 743,000 submissions from users in 78 countries/regions. The “XMAGE 100” award-winning works were the most outstanding images, not grouped into traditional categories, and among them three Grand Prize Winners of the Year were recognized. These works are shown below with the judging panel’s comments (in no particular order). Alex, CMO of Huawei Consumer Business Group said: “Let’s continue to capture, share, and inspire the world through XMAGE.”

Ethereal Lines

Judges’ comments: “Outstanding photographers are exploring uncharted territories of photography with high-end smartphones. The evolution of mobile technology is transforming the way we view the world. A premium smartphone has become a “spaceship” to infinite possibilities. This is a complex interplay of optics and algorithmic computation. Explorers move freely between the macro and micro worlds, transitioning from “seeing” to “insight.” And thus, a fascinating unknown emerges in the most unexpected moments.”

New Life

Judges’ comments: “This concise, straightforward photo shows the entire cycle of life, with the mother, the newborn calf, and the farmer who probably gave no thought to the uniqueness of this scene. It is the ordinary nature of this image that makes it so extraordinary. The photographer employs no special tricks, simply capturing an image of extraordinary depth and meaning as it occurs.”

Origin of Skiing

Judges’ comments:  “This picture captures the gaze present between two people who encounter each other. The child is standing on the snowy plain, but basking in the sun, dressed in traditional Altay clothing. The photographer shows remarkable restraint, not projecting their own feelings on to the image, but rather, letting the child’s personality shine through.”

Through these images and countless others, HUAWEI XMAGE is inspiring a paradigm shift in photography from “seeing” to “perceiving” our world, forging connection in unexpected places. Now that pictures are no longer images to be passively viewed, but rather, windows to what surrounds us, each touch of the shutter opens up a world of possibility.