Announcing Winners and Merit Awards
Winner's Gallery
Matt McClain
Window to the Past
Intern, Megan Day, 20, works in Margaret Hunter’s Millnery Shop at Colonial Williamsburg on Tuesday July 15, 2025 in Williamsburg, VA.
All About Photo Photographer of the Year 2026
$2,500 Cash Prize
Matt McClain
United States
Window to the Past
Brooke Shaden
Obscura
Inspired by Plato's shadows on the cave wall, our character finds a break in the facade, a way to show her identity despite those who would hide it.
Second Place Winner
$1,000 Cash Prize
United States
Obscura
France Leclerc
Celestial Ladies
To attend a service at the Celestial Church in West Africa, women devotees wear a white attire and a round hat. On a random walk, I noticed these women resting and chatting, presumably after attending a service, sitting in front of a gray wall where white circles had been painted. I was amazed by the juxtaposition of the hats and the circles.
Third Place Winner
$750 Cash Prize
United States
Celestial Ladies
JAVIER ARCENILLAS
Tunisia
Train sleeping in Cartago
Fourth Place Winner
$500 Cash Prize
Spain
Tunisia
Beamie Young
Bringing home the birds
In Cuba people hang bird cages, with birds by the front door. These are headed to a new home.
Fifth Place Winner
$250 Cash Prize
United States
Bringing home the birds
Merit Award's Gallery
TITTU SHAJI THOMAS
Untitled
TITTU SHAJI THOMAS
Ireland
Wahyu Budiyanto
Cycling in The Dew
In Menilo Village, Tuban, Indonesia, a morning scene is captured in the reflection of dew clinging to the roadside grass. Using macro photography, the tiny reflection reveals the silhouette of a cyclist traversing the still-quiet village road. The morning sunlight gently refracts through the dew, creating a simple silhouette of the tropical landscape and the activities of the villagers on a morning just before sunrise.
Wahyu Budiyanto
Indonesia
Buck Holzemer
Half-mast, Tattered, Still Standing
Buck Holzemer
United States
Max Chu
FREEDOM
Amdo, Tibet—a grassland 4,800 meters above sea level. Here, a group of children live on this land, driven by their dreams. They long to venture beyond the plateau for a better life elsewhere. I’ve captured this moment of their childhood.
Thaddäus "hozzography" Biberauer
kathakali
Florian Wurzinger
Measuring my Future
Shortly after birth, my son is measured from head to toe by medical staff. Still covered in traces of birth, his small body rests between gloved hands performing a routine procedure. The image shows the contrast between clinical precision and the profound vulnerability of a newborn.
Florian Wurzinger
Austria
Khaichuin Sim
Touched by Light
The clouds were moving swiftly across the Dolomites, painting the valley in shifting light and shadow. I waited patiently for the moment when the sun would break through and touch the lonely Church of San Giovanni in Ranui, leaving its surroundings in darkness. When that beam of light finally arrived, it transformed the quiet chapel into a glowing sanctuary beneath the towering peaks, a fleeting reminder that nature’s most magical moments reveal themselves only to those who wait.
Khaichuin Sim
Malaysia
Jordi Cohen
FAITH IN BULLFIGHTING
The Spanish bullfighter Marco Polope (from the bullfighting school of Valencia), preparing to go out to fight in the Final of the I Contest "Valencian Bullfighting Federation" in Sueca (Valencia)
Shrikanth R. Poojari
Water Body
A boy swims in a pond at Banganga Tank, Mumbai. Oceans and Seas have always fascinated Me as so much still remains to be explored and discovered. The boy in the picture represents the unknown. It's Haunting at the same time.
Shrikanth R. Poojari
India
Gavin Libotte
Chinoiserie
Street Photography Sydney Australia
Chris Yan
Lion Door Knocker
In Chinese royal architecture, door knocker shaped like a lion's head is very common. Under the setting sun, the ancient door knocker is illuminated by the sunlight. A girl wearing an ancient headdress happens to pass by, and her silhouetteand the door knocker reflect each other, looking beautiful and mysterious.
Zhang Lintao
Artistic water ballet
Neutral Independent Athletes perform during the day three of World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup Super Final 2025 at Xi'an Olympic Sports Centre on June 15, 2025 in Xi An, China.
Zhang Lintao
China
Thibault Gerbaldi
Waiting Out the Storm
In a rudimentary coastal shelter, fishermen wait as winds rise hours before Cyclone Ditwah strikes the coast. It would later devastate parts of Southeast Asia and claim hundreds of lives in Sri Lanka alone. Fishing, a key economic pillar, spans several generations within the same families.
Shrikanth R. Poojari
Bus Ride to Heaven
A beautiful sunset was happening in front of the bus and the golden light of the sun can be seen in the passage. A car passed by the bus with the tail lights on giving the pink and red tones to the picture. A lot of people ask Me if this picture is photoshopped and I always say that it's one of those magical moments that got Me to start photography full fledged.
Shrikanth R. Poojari
India
Jiri Kostal
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Space ride
I'm lying on the ice with my bike and trying to look like riding on the back wheel through space is easy. Self-portrait with a drone.
Jiri Kostal
Czech Republic
山本剛士
Before Form
This image was born from a dialogue between the artist and his work. It is not a record, but a trace of thought, a voice of the heart that can only be recorded through light.
Andrew Newey
Young Monks Playing Football
After a day filled with prayers and study, the young monks of Phugtal Gompa, an ancient Buddhist monastery perched on a sheer cliff in the southeast corner of the Zanskar Valley, love nothing more than to relax by playing football.
Andrew Newey
United Kingdom
Khaichuin Sim
Dancing with giants
Suspended between light and shadow, a freediver meets the gaze of Earth’s largest-toothed predators, the sperm whales. In their presence, the ocean feels endless, yet intimate.
Khaichuin Sim
Malaysia
Md Tanveer Hassan Rohan
The Weight of Creation
This photograph, taken in Dhamrai, Bangladesh, captures a striking moment that reveals the staggering physical demands placed on brick field workers. Cloaked in a storm of dust, the laborer carries an enormous stack of bricks on their head an everyday task in an industry built on unseen, unacknowledged effort. The image underscores a quiet but profound power: the endurance of those who, without machinery or recognition, hold up the foundations of development.
Eric Seidner
Faith. Flares. Fortune.
At a Spring Festival celebration, a costumed deity pushes through a wall of smoke during a village temple Youshen parade in Fujian, China. Villagers ignite hand-held flares only inches from his painted face.
Marco Di Marco
Earth's Veins
Rivers of fresh lava stream away from a curtain of fire at the Svartsengi volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland on Nov. 21, 2024. The powerful outpour marked the start of the seventh eruption episode in the Svartsengi system, following three earlier eruptions at nearby Fagradalsfjall that had opened the peninsula’s new volcanic cycle in 2021.
Prescott Moore Lassman
Arrested Protestor and Horse
From the "Resist" series, which is composed of photographs from 2025 highlighting individual and collective acts of resistance to the creeping authoritarianism overtaking this country. It is both a celebration of the growing backlash and a call to action, asking viewers to ponder the question: What are you willing to do or risk to resist?
Gabi Steiner
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In a Hurry
In the narrow streets of the city of Harar, I managed to capture this girl in just the right moment as an eye-catcher.
France Leclerc
Full Swing
The Buraidha market, located in central Saudi Arabia, is the largest and oldest camel market in the world. The sheer number of animals and the chaotic atmosphere are no doubt overwhelming. But what particularly caught my eye was the unique method used to transport some of the camels. I believe this image reflects the fusion of the past and present in Saudi Arabia.
Tommi Viitala
Girl of the Northern Lights.
Street portrait from a bus stop in Helsinki, Finland 2025. Taken by Fujifilm X100f.
cesare simioni
between friends
It is a traditional and vibrant Brazilian festival that reenacts the struggle between enslaved Black people and Indigenous people.
Asako Naruto
They, by Them
Through the fabric, a human outline emerges—both singular and anonymous. A thin membrane divides inside and outside, viewer and viewed, reducing presence to shadow. They names not one person, but a collective body: concealed, faceless, yet undeniably there.
JAVIER ARCENILLAS
AMAZON
Girl with a feathered spear in the Amazon
Kerry Faulkner
Untitled
Kerry Faulkner
Australia
Gavin Libotte
The Mystery of a Street
Street Photography Sydney Australia
Jiri Kostal
Drawing by driving
Bored driver and empty parking lot.
Jiri Kostal
Czech Republic
Archie Cludven
Reaching for Hope
Archie Cludven
China
Fenqiang Liu
Wings of the Forest
For years, I’ve photographed Florida’s birds in their natural habitats, seeking poetic scenes. One spring morning, a Great Egret flew through a natural frame I had long envisioned. I waited, hopeful. When it returned, sunlight lit its wings—bringing my vision to life.
Robert Lie
She and The Popes
A Catholic nun just passing in front of a wall that has a mural of John Paul 2 and Benedictus. This foto show us how dynamic the the shot in the street
Herve BOUTROUILLE
Wheels
Big one, small ones ...
Herve BOUTROUILLE
France
Andrew Newey
Honey Hunting
High in the Himalayan foothills of central Nepal Gurung honey hunters gather twice a year, risking their lives to harvest the honey from the world’s largest honeybee.
Andrew Newey
United Kingdom
Tommi Viitala
When the Angels Cry
Street photography from Helsinki, Finland 2023. Taken by Fujifilm X100f.
Marie Kent
Mending Nets
As I explored along the Thu Bon River, it was the blue of the fishing net that stayed with me long after witnessing this scene. A local woman was patiently mending a huge net by hand and, beyond the striking colour, it was tradition living through her meticulous craft.
Marie Kent
Vietnam
Seppo Tuomaala
Shoeshiner´s booth
A moment of stillness and service at a traditional shoeshine booth. In Buenos Aires. hese booths are often located near business districts and shopping centers, where keeping one's zapatos (shoes) "illustrious" is considered essential for making a lasting impression.
Tebani Slade
75 York Rd
An urban existence
Thank You!
