THE VISION
An international photography institution is taking root in Larissa, born from the vision of the Region of Thessaly and inspired by the work of the acclaimed photographer Takis Tloupas. With the support of his daughter Vania Tloupa, the devoted guardian of his legacy, this new initiative seeks not only to honor his timeless work but to reimagine it through the lens of the present.
Conceived as a beacon of both memory and modernity, the institution aspires to become a landmark on the global cultural map—celebrating one of Greece’s iconic visual storytellers,
while expanding the dialogue around the ever-evolving relationship between humans and their environment.
Named Tloupas PATH—an acronym for Tloupas Photography Award of Thessaly’s Heritage—the institution is structured along multiple dimensions: competitive, educational, curatorial, and communicative. At its heart are two annual photography competitions with corresponding awards:
- The TLOUPAS PATH INTERNATIONAL AWARD, for accomplished photographers from Greece and around the world, and
- The TLOUPAS PATH UNDER 30 AWARD, for emerging artists in Greece.
The ultimate ambition is the creation of a landmark Festival featuring exhibitions of the winning works that open up bold, new visual narratives. Alongside, a vibrant program of original educational activities will unfold in collaboration with schools at all levels, placing vision and its transformative power at the heart of the experience.
In an era where visual media reign supreme, we find ourselves immersed in an overwhelming tide of images —where AI-generated and manipulated visuals digitally altered, and authentic photographs blur together. As a result, the truth-value of the photographic image is under scrutiny like never before, raising urgent questions about perception, reality, and representation.
The Tloupas PATH initiative seeks to spark a dynamic dialogue between society and the artistic community around the role of photography today. By inviting audiences of all ages to reflect on the power and pitfalls of image-making, it aims to foster a deeper visual literacy—cultivating personal aesthetic ensibilities and a more thoughtful, conscious engagement with the photographic medium.
TLOUPAS PATH
INTERNATIONAL
AWARD
TLOUPAS PATH
UNDER 30
AWARD
THEMATIC CYCLES
The Tloupas PATH institution is rooted in exploring the vital relationship between humans and the environments they shape and inhabit. This, after all, is a thread that runs through the legacy of Takis Tloupas’s body of work.
Rooted in this conceptual foundation, the “Human–Environment Relationship”, each year the institution will unveil a new and exclusive Thematic Cycle.
All Thematic Cycles will consistently focus on human presence and impact, whether through the physical figure or the subtle imprint of human activity in the world.
For 2025, the Thematic Cycle is titled “Turning Point”, a call for visual storytelling that captures the momentum, rupture, or quiet aftermath of profound change.
IMPORTANT DATES
Open Call
Announcement of the Thematic Cycle and start of the Tloupas PATH competition
12 May
Training Programme
Photography in Larissa’s schools in collaboration with teaching staff
To be announced soon
“In the light”
Photography exhibition in Larissa based on the work of Takis Tloupas
To be announced soon
End of the competition
Competition Deadline
30 June
Shortlist announcement
Announcement of the shortlisted candidates for the competition
September
PATH Festival
Opening weekend of the festival
To be announced soon
Find out information about the Tloupas PATH competition and register to participate.
TLOUPA'S LEGACY
Takis Tloupas, the self-taught photographer from Larissa, left a distinctive mark on modern Greek photography.
His lens became a quiet witness to a world on the brink of transformation —capturing the fading rhythms of rural life as Greece stood at the threshold of industrialization, the toil of
people in the countryside and their daily struggle for survival, their intimate coexistence with nature, and the evolving pulse of urban life in Larissa. His photographs captured the identity of postwar Greece —a Greece he sensed was ndergoing radical and rapid change. More than personal expression, his work carries deep humanistic and ethnographic
resonance.
With the human figure at its heart, this black-and-white archive serves as a source of inspiration and guide for the activities of the Tloupas PATH Festival. It aspires to motivate us to reflect on our own footprint in the environments we inhabit, and to reimagine our relationship with the world.
FAQs
See answers to frequently asked questions regarding the competition process, thematic cycles, participation methods, and award categories. More detailed information about the terms and conditions of the competition can be found in the FAQs section.
What is the TAKIS TLOUPAS AWARDS competition and what are the awards?
The Tloupas PATH Awards are part of Tloupas PATH, an institution inspired by the work and identity of the Larissa photographer Takis Tloupas Tloupas who lived and worked in the city of Larissa for more than 40 years, capturing his hometown and life throughout the Thessalian plain. Takis Tloupas created an extensive photographic ethnographic archive, which is a reference for an important transitional period of the Greek countryside and society. The Tloupas PATH Awards photography competition and prizes are the centrepiece of the annual Tloupas PATH festival, which includes exhibitions, events, talks and educational programmes for children and adults.
What is the competition process?
The open competition will take the form of an open call for expressions of interest – OPEN CALL. At the beginning of each year, the institution will define a theme on which all annual events will be based. This theme will also be the theme of the OPEN CALL of the same year. The competition will be open for 60 days in the spring of each year and candidates will be able to submit their proposals on the institution’s platform. The details of the submission are described in detail in paragraphs 3, 4 and 6 below.
What are the Thematic Cycles?
The institution could only be inspired by man and his relationship with the environment. This is also the legacy of the work of Takis Tloupas. Thus, all the themes have man and human activity at their core, a choice that certainly does not exclude purely landscape approaches, since global landscape and climate are the result of human activity. The annual themes are more of a guideline and a trigger for multiple and different interpretations and approaches than a limiting condition.
Who can take part in the competition?
The Tloupas PATH Awards are open to amateur or professional photographers, recognized or emerging, from Greece or the rest of the world, regardless of age, with as many photographs as they wish, but always according to the conditions and terms of the categories proposed each time by the institution. There is no restriction on the photographic medium or style of the images submitted. Participants may not be employees, representatives or partners of Tloupas PATH Awards.
What are the categories of the awards?
For 2025 there are 2 categories that operate on the Open Call logic: (a) a category of young photographers under 30 years old, with limited work, and (b) a category of established photographers in the middle of their careers with known work, publications and exhibitions. In both cases, the submission can only be made through the institution’s website at the relevant link (SUBMISSION or OPEN CALL) with a portfolio of a series of photos – as specified in detail in each category separately. (see Submissions – paragraph 4 )
Organization
