The prestigious Natural Landscape Photography Awards has revealed its 2025 winners. The fifth annual contest received over 11,000 entries from more than 1,100 photographers in 64 countries. Australian photographer Joy Kachina took the top award and has been named Photographer of the Year.
Photo: Joy Kachina
Kachina’s portfolio showcases the landscapes and forests of Tasmania. The Photographer of the Year part of the contest is given for a collection of related work, not just a single image. A landscape photographer by trade, Kachina was amazed to hear she had taken the top prize.
“This is such a wonderful surprise!” she said. “The imagery in this competition wonderfully highlights the real experiences we have in nature.”
Photo: Lukas Furlan
No digital manipulation
All entries had to be RAW files and were examined to ensure that there was no digital manipulation. That meant that of the 11,023 submissions, only 3,688 made it through the screening rounds. From those, the top 100 were selected and passed on to the judges.
In runner-up position for Photographer of the Year was Lukas Furlan, followed by Matt Jackisch in third, Scott Oller in fourth, Vojtech Schmidt in fifth, and Magnus Reneflot in sixth.
Photograph of the Year. Photo: Margrit Schwarz
Margrit Schwarz was awarded Photograph of the Year for an image she captured during a 12-day river trip in the Grand Canyon.
“What moved me most were the hidden abstract forms shaped by stone, water, and time,” she said.
Photo: Luis Vilarino
Luis Vilarino won the Grand Landscape category, with Samuel Markham as runner-up and Gunar Streu in third place.
“This award gives me the opportunity to share…the same feelings I enjoyed in that magical moment,” commented Vilarino. “I hope you feel the cold biting your skin among gigantic blocks of ice in the depths of winter.”
Photo: Vojtech Schmidt
Other category winners include David Shaw in the Intimate Landscape category, Ilan Shacham for Abstract Landscape, Lizzie Shepherd in Seascapes, Spencer Cox for Rocks and Geology, Grégoire Pansu for Tropical Landscapes, Kenny Muir for Woodlands, Louis Ouimet for Desert Landscapes, and Vojtech Schmidt for Frozen Worlds.
Photo: Hanneke Van Camp
The NLPA also recognized an outstanding photographic project: Hanneke Van Camp for Sápmi – Living Landscapes, a series of images taken in Sámpi, the Sami homeland in Northern Europe.
A full gallery of the winning images can be found on the competition website.
