The 1839 Photographer of the Year Awards have once again celebrated the power, creativity, and emotion that photography can bring to life. Named after the year photography was first made widely available to the public, the 1839 Awards continue to honor the most remarkable visual artists from around the world who use the medium as a true art form.
This year’s competition attracted thousands of entries from both Professional and Non-Professional photographers, each showcasing exceptional artistic vision, technical mastery, and emotional depth. The 40 outstanding winners represent a global tapestry of perspectives — from breathtaking landscapes and intimate portraits to bold conceptual works that challenge how we see the world.
In the Professional category, photographers pushed boundaries through innovative storytelling and impeccable craft, revealing the power of composition, light, and timing. The Non-Professional winners, on the other hand, stunned the judges with their fresh vision, originality, and fearless creativity, proving that passion and perspective often transcend experience.
The winning images span a wide range of genres — including fine art, documentary, nature, travel, architecture, and portraiture — each one offering a glimpse into humanity’s diverse beauty and complexity. Whether it’s a fleeting moment of emotion or a meticulously constructed visual narrative, every photograph tells a story worth remembering.
Through the 1839 Awards, photography is not just celebrated as documentation but as a powerful language of expression, capable of moving hearts and inspiring change. The 40 winners of this year’s edition remind us why photography remains one of the most universal and transformative art forms — a timeless medium that connects us all through light, emotion, and imagination.
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#1. Intenational Photographer of the Year: "Dream" by Jaime Travezán
"Promotion for fashion designer Ade Bakare."
#2. Abstract – Winner: "Starfighter" by Christiaan Van Heijst
"A lone Starfighter rests in a surreal salt desert, its polished fuselage echoing a time when speed and altitude defined the edge of possibility. Set against a stark, alien-like horizon, the image merges past ambition with timeless isolation."
#3. Abstract – Silver: "Girl With the Sun On Her Head" by Tommi Viitala
"Experimental Fuji’s Double Exposure Portraits by Fuji X100f."
#4. Aerial – Winner: "Photography of Overhead Liner’s Symmetry" by Yevhen Kostiuk
"P.O.O.L.S. – Photography of Overhead Liner’s Symmetry – offers a rare top-down view of cruise ships, highlighting their symmetry, clean geometry, and tiny bow pools. It’s not glossy marketing, but a visual study of design, structure, and detail often missed by passengers"
#5. Aerial – Silver: "Queens Neigborhood" by Ricky Beron
"Image taken from a commercial flight landing at LaGuardia Airport."
#6. Aerial – Bronze: "After the meal" by Paal Hermansen
"Polar bear after eating on a walrus. This is a rare sight, as polar bears nearly never catch so big prey. Due to climate change, catching seals is getting mor difficult, as the ice is vanishing."
#7. Architecture – Winner: "Details" by Svetlana Fadeeva
"This photo was taken on the early morning on the grounds of the Qatar National Museum. I wanted to highlight the dynamic curves and bold colors to emphasize the architectural design’s movement and vibrancy."
#8. Architecture – People’s Vote Award: "On the Edge" by Brian Clopp
"A lone abandoned house sits precariously awaiting its fate at the edge of an eroding cliff, a symbol of the inevitable effects of time and forces of nature catching up with man. Heavy storm waves have pummeled this seaside embankment where the structure is now on the brink of certain doom."
#9. Conceptual – Winner: "Objects of Desire" by Nora Hegedus
"Objects of Desire is a series dedicated to objects in the work of two major painters of the Surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. It is an attempt to capture what struck me in their works and a declaration of love for the everyday objects I have always felt compelled to transform."
#10. Conceptual – Silver: "Reverie Park" by Diego Fabro
"Reverie Park draws on the theatrical and the nocturnal, blending real and imagined spaces across Ireland and Brazil. Juxtaposing living and deceased animals, it explores the tension between life and decay, blurring the line between reality and dream."
#11. Conceptual – Silver: "Amber Coast" by Monika Maroziene
"The Curonian Spit, amazing landscape, has been part of my life since childhood. Women – powerful, endless, giving, mysterious, dramatic, dangerous, calm, fragile, ironic, and poetic – remind me of every tiny sand particle sliding in the wind. Women have so many faces and are never fully understood."
#12. Domestic Animals – Winner: "Beyond the Echo of Their Gallop" by Hiroshi Kutomi
"Beyond the Echo of Their Gallop revives the splendor of retired racehorses and cinematic horses. Through adornment and portraiture, their resilience and beauty transcend time, reminding us that glory need not fade—it simply waits to shine again."
#13. Domestic Animals – People’s Vote Award: "Living His Best Life" by Joanna Jones
#14. Event – Winner: "Curvy" by Natalya Pyrogova
"Nazaré Winter session. Big waves surfing. Due to unique landscape and weather conditions from November to march we can see the phenomenon of the gigantic waves, surfers from all over the world come to the special camp to try their hand at crossing the ocean. Surfer Jose Carlos"
#15. Event – Silver: "NEBBIE – The Passion in Enna" by Antoine Buttafoghi
"In this work, I explore the links between the visible and the invisible, the urban and the sacred, the real and the symbolic, paying particular attention to the atmosphere, the rhythm of bodies and the poetry of places, between religious celebration and misty wanderings."
#16. Film/Analog – Winner: "ContactSheet, Aftermath Genocide Rwanda GOMA" by Philip Coburn
"I covered the genocide in Rwanda and the aftermath during my 1st foreign assignment in 1994. Images are from a camp called Kibumba near Zaire (now DRC) where many people had fled. Disease was rife. French troops stacked the dead into piles and covered them with soil due to the thin volcanic earth"
#17. Film/Analog – Silver – "Ephemeral Silence" by Yu Ning Yang
"During the melting snow season in Lake Tahoe, fleeting quietude emerged and faded again. In solitude, the landscapes became quiet mirrors to an inner search for stillness."
#18. Film/Analog – People’s Vote Award: "Not Everything Was Seen" by Rui Wang
“Not Everything Was Seen” explores absence as presence and love’s partial visibility. Images are traces—fragments left by intimacy and time. Love lingers in gestures, silence, fading light; it flickers in reflections, slips out of frame. The series holds what remains.
#19. Landscapes – Winner: "An Arizona Moonrise" by Michael Mihaljevich
"Arizona’s iconic saguaro cacti stand tall against a backdrop of post-sunset pastels. The monthly full moon lays watch over the serene Sonoran desert on a calm and colorful moment of dusk."
#20. Landscapes – Silver: "SUPERCELLS – Mother Nature Unleashed" by David Baxter III
"Tornado Alley across the United States of America can produce some of the most wild weather across planet Earth. Supercells traverse Tornado Alley during the Spring and Summer Seasons bringing breath taking views as Mother Nature creates unbelievable atmospheric sculptures."
#21. Landscapes – Silver: "Moon Summit" by Lee Nordbye
"During my journey of battling the dark shadows of depression and anxiety, I have found that connecting with moments in nature, such as this one, helps keep these shadows at bay and allows me to move forward with a smile on my face."
#22. Landscapes – Bronze: "Silently Thunder" by Matteo Redaelli
"A lightning bolt strikes down from a dark, cloudy sky over a snow-covered mountain range. The image creates a dramatic and intense atmosphere, with strong contrasts between the dark clouds, the bright lightning, and the illuminated peaks. It captures a thunderstorm in a high-altitude landscape."
#23. Macro – Winner: "Mushroom madness" by Panagiotis Dalagiorgos
"A close-up backlit photo of an Ameles heldreichi nymph. I took this photo in December 2024 on a mountain near Athens, Greece. I found a pine cone with a mushroom growing on it, picked it up and placed in front of my lens, framing it with the sun in the background."
#24. Macro – Silver: "A Stroll In the Primordial Countryside" by Tamra M. Gentry
"My work is an exploration of the hidden beauty within rocks and minerals. By magnifying natural formations, I reveal surreal worlds, transforming ordinary stones into art that invites contemplation and a deeper connection to Earth’s geological wonders."
#25. Macro – Bronze: "Invisible Repro Gems" by Hidetaka Ito
"The colors and forms of flowers conceal intricate mechanisms designed for reproduction and regeneration, reflecting the results of their co-evolution with humans. Using macro lenses, I have revealed the hidden strategies of these plants—at once beautiful and grotesque."
#26. Minimalism – Winner: "San Francisco de Asis" by Kent Flora
"Mission in Rancho de Taos, New Mexico"
#27. Minimalism – Silver: "Just Let Me Know Somepoint That You’re Fine" by Tommi Viitala
"Street Photography from Helsinki, Finland."
#28. Nature – Winner: "Blue Hour Guardian" by Alexander Tasho
"Just before sunrise, this cheetah lay perfectly still, deciding whether I was a threat or not before taking a drink. It felt like I’d stumbled into a painting, where even time had stopped to look."
#29. Nature – Winner: "Into the Wild" by Luiza Michalewicz
"Into the Wild represents the very raw of nature. Nothing pre planned, nothing staged or arranged. Just the place and the right moment…"
#30. Still Life – Winner: "American Bodegónes" by Liz Obert
"This body of work reflects on mortality, the human condition, and our culture’s obsession with materialism. Through imagery inspired by Dutch and Spanish paintings, it expresses the transience of our existence by exploring our shared relationship with food."
#31. Still Life – Silver: "My love" by Taeho Shin
#32. Street – Winner: "Oath to a Dream" by Alexandru Măciucă
"Oath to a Dream" is my Collection of Diptychs I’ve created over the years. Every Shot is Candid, Capturing Raw, Authentic Moments. I love pairing images that elevate and enhance one another, creating a deeper visual narrative. And sometimes just for pure visual aspect of it.
#33. Underwater – Winner: "Our Ocean" by Brooke Pyke
#34. Underwater – Silver: "Wormhole" by Benjamin Yavar
"One in a life time encounter with this sardine run. One single fish can be only 10 inch but if they stay together they can shape such incredible and unique forms."
#35. Underwater – Bronze: "Sea Puppy Gaze" by Remuna Beca
"With irresistible puppy-like eyes, an Endangered Australian sea lion playfully engages with the camera with curiosity in South Australia’s kelp forests."
#36. Wildlife – Winner: "Emperor family" by Risto Raunio
"Emperor parents are feeding their chick on the ice of Antarctica."
#37. Wildlife – Silver: "Apollp flight" by Paal Hermansen
#38. Wildlife – Bronze: "The Power of Africa" by Barbara Fleming
"The Cape Buffalo, one of Africa’s most powerful animals, embodies untamed beauty that often goes unnoticed. Its imposing, dark presence commands respect. I aimed to capture its drama and mystery by underexposing the image, highlighting its enigmatic essence."
#39. Wildlife – Bronze: "Connecting" by Barbara Fleming
"Elephant mothers are nurturing and protective. A calf touches its mother for reassurance as the herd returns to the forest after foraging in a swamp. I used layers to underexpose the pair, highlighting the emotional bonding."
#40. Wildlife – Bronze: "Midnight hunters" by Wayne Sorensen
"This image was taken from an underground hide in Kenya after midnight. I could scarcely believe my eyes as not one, but six lions materialised from the darkness. They drank their fill from the waterhole before disappearing once more into the darkness of night to continue their hunt."