Black and white photography invites us to pause and see the world differently. Without the distraction of color, every shadow, texture, and feeling stands out more clearly. This unique perspective is at the heart of the 12th Monochrome Awards, which honor photographers who show that the strongest stories can be captured in pure light and shadow.
This year’s winners showcase an impressive blend of creativity, technical skill, and emotional depth. Their images range from intimate portraits to sweeping landscapes and dreamlike astrophotography, reminding us that black and white photography speaks its own language.
This year, the top honor went to Bruin Feskens of South Africa, who was named Monochrome Photographer of the Year 2025 in the professional category and awarded a $2,000 cash prize. His winning image turns the human form into a striking sculpture, blending light, shadow, and texture to create a scene that feels both subtle and deeply moving.
In the amateur category, Peter Hergesheimer from the United States was named Monochrome Discovery of the Year 2025 and received a $1,000 prize. His captivating astrophotography transforms cosmic dust, light, and shadow into an abstract black and white image that feels almost unreal.
Together, these winning photographs reveal the lasting appeal of black and white imagery. Each picture tells a unique story and expresses its own mood.
Congratulations to all the winners, honorable mentions, and participants in this year’s competition. For those ready to share their work next, the Monochrome Awards 2026 are now accepting entries until July 5, 2026.
You can find more info:
1. Professional Monochrome Photographer of the Year: "Quiet Questions" by Bruin Feskens, South Africa
This series I send you is a composition of my work from the last 3 years. From the very beginning of my journey in the art world till the present. I show beauty without a face, without an individual person. I aim to allow everyone to see themselves into the subjects I present. A silent question asked to the observer.
2. Monochrome Discovery of the Year: "Upheaval" by Peter Hergesheimer, United States
Torrents of energy from the variable star AE Auriga excite the hydrogen gas in the Flaming Star nebula (IC 405) some 1,500 light years from earth causing the gas to radiate light. This image was captured in monochrome through a telescope and is an accumulation of 96 five-minute exposures (8 hours).
3. Abstract – 1st Place Winner: "River landscape I" by Martin Koeppert, Germany
This image was taken in Iceland and shows the River landscape from above.
4. Abstract – 2nd Place Winner: "Art of the Colony" by Vicki Jauron, United States
A Gentoo Penguin colony is captured on the hillside of Danco Island, Antartica using a long lens from the ship to create a more abstract rendition of the scene.
5. Abstract – 3rd Place Winner: "Plausible but false" by Chiu LiYing, Taiwan
6. Architecture – 1st Place Winner: "Interruption" by Mario Tarantino, Spain
This simplistic architectural photograph seeks to illustrate an "Interruption" in capturing the temporary interacting with the ephemeral. The artwork makes use of the structures geometric design in developing monotony, homogeneity and visual rhythm – all of which are suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a solitary figure.
7. Architecture – 2nd Place Winner: "Vertical City, Silent Peak" by Shuchuan Liu
This is the view of Tokyo’s cityscape from the Bunkyo Civic Center. The contrast between man-made structures and the timeless form of the mountain creates a subtle dialogue—one shaped by order, scale, and light.
8. Architecture – 3rd Place Winner: "Orbital Silence" by Robert Fülöp, Romania
Captured in Avilés, Spain, this architectural composition showcases the Centro Niemeyer—a rare European work of the Brazilian modernist Oscar Niemeyer. The image isolates two primary structures: the coiled observation tower and the domed auditorium, each reduced to elemental forms.
9. Conceptual – 1st Place Winner: "Untitled" by Sasha Sketcher
10. Conceptual – 2nd Place Winner: "The Womb" by Nick Green, Australia
Photographed beneath the surface of Tasmania’s southern coast, the curled body is held by the kelp itself, a quiet, womb-like pocket in the freezing cold water.
11. Conceptual – 3rd Place Winner: "The Anatomy of grief (self-portrait)" by Foteini Zaglara, Greece
Grief is not a single emotion, but a complex anatomy of pain, denial, anger, and eventual acceptance. It reshapes us distorts our perception, our body, our sense of self. In this image, the blurred face and darkened hands symbolize the struggle to contain emotions that have no clear form, only movement. The photograph explores the invisible weight of mourning, where identity dissolves and slowly rebuilds itself through the act of feeling.
12. Fashion / Beauty – 1st Place Winner: "Confidence" by Axel Brand, Germany
Axel Brand is a german photographer, based near Stuttgart. His focus is dancephotography, especially ballet.
13. Fashion / Beauty – 2nd Place Winner: "Sculpted Contours" by Sophia Vourdoukis, United States
A high-fashion black-and-white study where close-up body parts merge with jewelry, transforming into sculptural landscapes of light, shadow, and texture.
14. Fashion / Beauty – 3rd Place Winner: "The white flowers" by Giuseppe Tambè, Italy
15. Fine Art – 2nd Place Winner: "Tell me if you see me" by Emilio Barrionuevo, Spain
Is an intimate and profound journey that transforms the pain of absence into a space for reflection and inner peace. This project explores, through black and white images, how the loneliness that follows a loss can be projected into the outside world, reflecting emotional landscapes that dwell in the soul.
16. Fine Art – 3rd Place Winner: "Corpus Floret" by Sama Sbrissa, Italy
The photographic project "Homeostasis" flourishes once again as "Corpus Floret," delving into the world of plants. It analyzes life and biodiversity, focusing on homeostasis, the ability of living organisms to maintain stability.
17. Landscapes – 1st Place Winner: "Faroese layers" by Laurent GUIGUE, France
Successive views of the northern tip of the island of Esturoy, then of the rocky spurs “Risin og Kellingin” (“The Giant and the Witch”, Esturoy), then of the northern tip of the island of Stremoy, from the famous viewpoint near the lighthouse on the north side of the island of Kallur (324mm).
18. Landscapes – 2nd Place Winner: "Aiguille Noire the Peuterey" by Fabio Menino Hofmann, Italy
Summer 2025. Mont Blanc landscape, Aosta Valley-Italy. Cloudy day at the end of summer. With camera Hasselblad 500 CM (1978) and lens Carl Zeiss Sonnar 150 mm f/4.0 C (1973).
19. Landscapes – 3rd Place Winner: "Wheal Coates" by Paul Sanders, United Kingdom
I make images of this former mine a lot, it’s on my regular dog walk. Waking up on Christmas Eve to thick fog across the area of Cornwall I live I knew that Wheal Coates would be almost suffocated with the sea fog. The industrial silhouette contrasted with the eerie softness of the fog and the sun trying to break through made the most enjoyable photography session.
20. Nature – 1st Place Winner: "Tentacle Tornado" by Geo Cloete, South Africa
Although the ocean covers the majority of your world, we know very little about it and its animals. It has been said that we know more about the Moon than we do about the ocean.
21. Nature – 2nd Place Winner: "Diminution" by Preeti & Prashant Chacko, United Arab Emirates
Giraffes have an uncanny ability to hold the most statuesque of poses, as though the landscape were their stage. When a solitary tree stands nearby, the possibilities for creative compositions multiply. We tried to build a composition around the tree and the two giraffes in a natural progression of diminishing heights going into the distance.
22. Nature – 3rd Place Winner: "The iCone" by Andrea Maci, Italy
23. Photojournalism – 1st Place Winner: "Scars from landmines" by Shinji Isobe, Japan
A boy who lost his leg after stepping on a landmine on his way to school. Behind his innocent expression lies an unimaginable experience. The wall lined with prosthetic limbs tells the story of many others in this land who share a similar fate. The scars of war continue to silently, yet surely, steal the futures of children.
24. Photojournalism – 2nd Place Winner: "Amor Deus" by Anna Consilia Alemanno, Italy
This photo, from my “Amor Deus” project, was taken on the island of Boa Vista in July 2024, within the neighbourhood of Bairro de Boa Esperanza. The island of Boa Vista, a former Portuguese colony, known and chosen as an international tourist destination, famous for its spectacular beaches caressed by the trade winds and relaxed lifestyle,
25. Photojournalism – 3rd Place Winner: "Lord of the Toxic Lake" by Radek von Hirschberg, Poland
Shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, Poles across the country had begun to embrace winter swimming as their favorite pursuit. In fact, I would go even further. Previously a niche activity, winter swimming became the ‘it’ thing to do among the Polish middle class. This was evident, for example, on social media, where once it was flooded with selfies of people standing in cold water.
26. Portrait – 1st Place Winner: "Breath of Shadows" by Sima Bivolarska, Bulgaria
Breath of Shadows – Inspired by shadows and lines
27. Portrait – 2nd Place Winner: "Lynette, acid attack survivor" by Erberto Zani, Italy
Uganda, 2025. Lynette, 27, was attacked with acid when she was three. One evening, she and her sisters were gathered in the house, sitting on the carpet for dinner. Two masked men came through the door throwing some buckets full of acid at the group of women who got up by clicking leaving only Lynette on the floor, too small to move quickly.
28. Portrait – 3rd Place Winner: "A Face of Beads" by Randy Hanna, United States
To hide their from men until they select a mate, these women cover their faces with bead-work made from local seeds. Once a mate is selected the face covering is removed, much like a vail.
29. Street – 1st Place Winner: "I" by Nina Papiorek, Germany
Taken in Copenhagen, Denmark. In my streetphotography I always try to capture minimalistic scene in visual overloaded cities. Mostly my photos are very graphical, so i try to simulate the elements in my photos in the caption/title.
30. Street – 2nd Place Winner: "Last exit 2 bronx" by Deryk Baumgaertner, Germany
Subway train to the Bronx during the notorious rush hour at Union Square in NYC.
31. Street – 3rd Place Winner: "Rubber is not that elastic" by Myriam Aadli, France
A circus school. Sport is very important in havana for young people; A way out of the situation in Cuba. A place of resilience. I’ve been lucky enough simply by opening doors to share moments with Cubans young and old; I didn’t forget to bring medicines, rare foodstuffs, candy.
32. Wildlife – 1st Place Winner: "Ice Leopard" by Scott Portelli, Australia
Antarctica is a very fragile environment with some of the most diverse inhabitants on the planet. Leopard seals are a dominant apex predator in Antarctica and can be seen roaming the frozen oceans in search of food. Although their diet consists primarily of krill, they are known to take on larger prey including penguins towards the end of the polar summer in the southern hemisphere.
33. Wildlife – 2nd Place Winner: "Morning drink" by Jonathan Wosinski, France
Engine off, I was hoping this bull to place himself in the frame between me and the sunrise. And fortunately, he did ! Even kind aenough to perform a nice morning shake while drinking water.
34. Wildlife – 3rd Place Winner: "Squid Games" by Eric Kanigan, United States
At the intersection of myth and mystery, of silence and shadow, swims a predator. The largest on our planet. But she knows nothing of the titles or tags bestowed upon her. She knows the hunt. And she conducts it with a deadly grace.
FAQ’s
What are the Monochrome Photography Awards?
The Monochrome Photography Awards is a global contest that honors exceptional black and white photography by both professionals and amateurs from all corners of the world.
Who won the Monochrome Photographer of the Year 2025?
Bruin Feskens, hailing from South Africa, took home the Professional category’s top honor—Monochrome Photographer of the Year 2025—and a $2,000 cash prize.
Who was named Monochrome Discovery of the Year 2025?
Peter Hergesheimer from the United States was named Monochrome Discovery of the Year 2025 in the Amateur category, thanks to his remarkable astrophotography image.
What kind of photography wins in the Monochrome Awards?
Winning photos typically stand out for their strong composition, bold contrasts, compelling stories, rich textures, and the way they convey emotion using only shades of black and white.
When can photographers submit to the Monochrome Awards 2026?
Photographers have until July 5, 2026, to enter the Monochrome Photography Awards 2026—a fantastic opportunity for artists everywhere to share their monochrome work with the world.
