We’re happy to announce American photographer Emily Schiffer‘s project Kin as the second Best Series winner of our Family open call. The juror Francesca Genovese, founder and director of Francesca Maffeo Gallery, couldn’t choose between Emily’s intimate pictures of her own family, and Ilona and Maddalena, Sandra Mehl’s delightful series about two young French sisters (see it here), so she assigned the special prize—a representation contract through her gallery’s Print Room—to both photographers. Congratulations Emily and Sandra!

Since we’ve received so many good works for this call, we’ve made a shortlist of ten FotoRoom favorites—two of which coincided with the selected winning projects—and we will be sharing them over the course of this and next week (subscribe to our weekly newsletter to make you sure you don’t miss any of them). This is the least we could do to thank you for the great participation and for the general quality of the submitted entries.

The Best Single Image and a selection of shortlisted single photographs were also announced—take a look here. Remember: there’s a new call currently open on the theme of Human Environments; the winner will see his/her work made into a photobook by indie publisher The Velvet Cell. If you have a FotoRoom membership, you can already enter. Not a member yet? Sign up (starts at only €10/year!).

Here’s a quick chat with Emily Schiffer, whose work will be soon represented by Francesca Maffeo Gallery.

Ciao Emily, congratulations for being the winner of our ‘Family’ call! How are you feeling right now?
I’m feeling great, thanks!

What is photography for you?
Photography for me is a way to slow down life and understand the world around me. I also think seeing is really fun.

What is Kin about?
Kin is about my family. It’s about our daily struggles and celebrations. It includes birth, death and everything in between. Kin started out as my private family photographs, but I’ve decided to share them because I think other people can connect with these images and see their own lives reflected in ours.

Where can you be found online?
This is my website and I’m on Instagram.