On March 6, International Women's Day, the Théâtre de la Ville – Sarah Bernhardt in Paris hosted L'Étincelle du Lien. The event included the awards ceremony for the photo contest "La Puissance du Lien par Sakura" (The Power of Connection by Sakura).

Supported by the association La Puissance du Lien, founded and chaired by Élisabeth Moreno, and by the Sakura Fund created by Muriel Pénicaud, this award harnesses the power of images to strengthen human connections. The two associations share the same conviction: art is a powerful lever for transformation.

For this second edition, nearly 200 photographs were submitted, 67% of which were taken by women. A 12-25 age category was created to highlight young people's perspective on our times.

The power of the stories made a deep impression on the jury. Some photographs take a documentary approach, attentive to reality; others borrow from the realms of dreams and imagination. All of them explore the connection between the intimate and the political. The award-winning photographs tell stories of love, transmission, care, and freedom, and draw a sensitive map of human connections, whether intimate or collective, happy or painful, chosen or endured.

In light of this wealth of talent, several special mentions were created to recognize particularly committed perspectives.

The jury, chaired by Muriel Pénicaud —former minister, photographer, and founder of the Sakura Fund—included Reza, photographer and honorary president; Élisabeth Moreno, former minister, chair of the board of directors of Ring Capital, and founder of La Puissance du Lien; Élisabeth Richard, General Delegate of the ENGIE Foundation, Mathilde de l'Écotais, photographer, founder and president of Media Social Factory and administrator of the Sakura Fund, and Dimitri Beck, editor-in-chief and director of photography at Polka.