Nature Photography Contest 2026 Reveals Winners Across Wildlife, Landscape, and Underwater Categories

Canadian photographer Thomas Vijayan claimed the top prize at the Nature Photography Contest's 2025 edition, taking the Photograph of the Year honor for a gut-punch portrait of an orangutan sitting amid the debris of its destroyed habitat. The image, titled "Please Spare Our Home," shows the orangutan on the ground, surrounded by debris and destruction, a poignant reminder of the real impacts of deforestation on animals.

This marks Vijayan's second consecutive major prize at the contest; last year he was named Photographer of the Year. Back-to-back top honors at the same competition is rare in the nature photography world, and the subject matter makes the streak all the more striking. Vijayan's orangutan image goes beyond wildlife photography to become a visual statement on deforestation and habitat loss, reflecting the consequences of human activity while reminding viewers of a shared responsibility toward the species that inhabit the planet, according to the contest's press release.

This year's Photographer of the Year title went to Angela J. Sanchez from Georgia, USA, an honor that recognizes a collection of photos rather than a specific shot or theme. Sanchez's portfolio includes a wide range of images, among them underwater work. As part of her award, Sanchez will select the location where approximately 500 trees will be planted in her honor, in partnership with One Tree Planted.

The competition awarded prizes across 10 categories: Birds, Environmental Impact, Funny Nature, Macrophotography, Natural Landscape, Night World, Plant Life, Sharing the Planet, Underwater, and Wildlife. Several of the category winners stand out on their own merits.

Janet Gustin took the Wildlife category with "Following," depicting a young brown bear following the confident lead of a small seagull across the tidal flats as nature painted the world in golden pastels. Pawel Zygmunt won Natural Landscape with "The Earth's Eye," an aerial view of the Hveravellir geothermal area in Iceland that reveals a natural formation resembling an animal's eye, with a dark deep-blue pool at the center surrounded by rich brown mineral deposits that create a layered, eye-like appearance.

Other category winners included "Sporing Party" by Indranil Basu Mallick, "Whale Dreams" by Remuna Beca, "Before the Storm" by James Welch, "My Jeffrey Pine, Sierra de Baza" by Miguel José Avalos González, "Creation" by Peter Hergesheimer, "First Gaze" by Wiktoria West, and "The Honey Keepers of Sundarban" by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman. Panagiotis Xaxiris also claimed a category win with "Into the Gape: Dalmatian Pelican at Dawn."

Alongside the winners, the competition judges selected finalists across all categories, viewable in a gallery on the Nature Photography Contest's website. The breadth of subjects on display, from Iceland's geothermal crust to the collapsing rainforest floors of Southeast Asia, is a reminder of what the best nature photography still does better than any other genre: it makes the abstract urgency of conservation feel immediate and personal.