Golden ROI Contest 2026 Winners - Fourth Edition
1st Place - Alperen Ayan (USA)
Title:"Tiny Garden"
Description:
I have a lovely community of friends now from a student-run library I work at. I wanted to depict a future world where, instead of parting ways for our individual, atomized work lives, we can stay together, engrossed in tranquility, nature, books, art, and each other's presence, enabled by the down-to-earth, green, communal vision of the solarpunk movement.
2nd Place - Salvatore Nobile (Italy)
Title: "After us"
Description:
In a future where humanity has become an archaeological relic, silence has replaced noise. There are no more wars or chaos. In this new era, an artificial civilisation explores the remains of those who created it.
Amidst colossal structures and autonomous technologies, a single dwelling retains its intimacy: the home of an ordinary individual, a fragile testament to a past presence that accumulated memories rather than data.
To the explorer observing it, that house is not merely a ruin, but an enigma.
For what humanity has left behind is not etched into the steel of its machines, but into the vulnerability of its spaces.
And perhaps it is precisely this imperfection that is the only form of eternity.
3rd Place - Michele Candelaresi (Italy)
Title: "A better future"
Description:
In the not-too-distant future, humanity has reached the pinnacle of technological development, but a scarcity of resources has led to the inevitable outbreak of numerous wars across the planet.
After years of relentless conflict, humankind found itself on the brink of extinction, and the very few survivors decided to renounce war and the technology that had brought so much destruction once and for all. Scattered across the world, one can find hundreds of wrecks of former war mechs, now covered in rust and overgrown with plants.
The younger generations no longer know what a weapon is; the older ones have managed to forget the past, and harmony continues to reign. The people of the future have chosen to rebuild civilisation by maintaining a lifestyle more in touch with nature, recycling every available material and living in the spirit of peace.
Will all this last?
Honourable Mentions
Martina Zanardi Carcereri (Italy)
Title: "Doodles of Tomorrow"
Description:
Dream, draw, create, get lost in your mind, because the future is in the hands of creatives.
Matthew Leong (USA)
Title: "Silicon Rapture"
Description:
In response to an increasingly materialistic society, a hyper-fixation with religion and spirituality has emerged.
Capitalizing off of this trend, powerful pseudo-religious cults have arisen to offer salvation. The first step is to relinquish all worldly possessions.
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