National & Regional Awards 2026 Winners & Shortlist

A Girl with a Flower Crown

This image combines two photographs: a portrait of a girl and the texture of a dry leaf, blending natural forms into a single visual narrative.

Mongolian Kazakh

Many Kazakhs migrated to western Mongolia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, preserving their customs, nomadic lifestyle and traditional clothing. Despite differences with other ethnic groups of the Mongolian steppe, they are hardy and welcoming people.

Fishing Together

The wetland area of Myanmar’s Inle Lake is rich with trees and fish, providing a livelihood for local communities. This photograph shows children fishing in the early morning.

Untitled

Photographed as part of a series titled The Boys Outside, which looks to capture the youthful beauty of its subjects.

Sunset in the Desert

A sunset over the Ustyurt Plateau desert, photographed close to the dried-up Sarykamysh Lake in Uzbekistan. The marks seen on the sun in this image are not dust or camera defects, but actual sunspots on the sun’s surface.

Harmony of Earth and Sky

The mountains outside the city of AlUla in northern Saudi Arabia harmonise with their surroundings, day and night. Here, the Milky Way appears alongside a mountain called Muqrat al-Dabbous.

Lady of the Lake

Photographed at Lake Bled, Slovenia, this image features three of the area’s iconic buildings: the Church of the Assumption, the Bled Castle and St. Martin’s Parish Church.

Untitled

A performer of traditional Cambodian Chai Yam dance, in full costume after dancing at a Khmer kite competition in Ponhea Lueu District, Kandal Province, Cambodia.

Stealth

A solitary leopard descends a fallen tree in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, its silhouette merging with the vast, moody sky. Captured from a distance, the image evokes the predator’s grace, and the untamed freedom of its wild home.

Drifting in Two Worlds

A lone jellyfish glides through crystal-clear water, its glowing orange form moving between two realms: the surface above and the calm blue depths below. In this moment, the creature appears suspended between reality and dream, revealing the elegance of life beneath the sea.

Her Hands are the Past, Mine are the Continuation

This image captures a quiet moment in Taitung, Taiwan. The afternoon light falls softly as a mother guides her daughter’s hands, each stitch like a memory written into the fabric. Without a stage or audience, tradition survives in silence, shaped by patience, presence and time.

Spirit of Yartung

A rider charges forward with intensity and grace during the Yartung Festival in Manang, Nepal. This vibrant celebration of tradition and skill reveals the deep bond between horse and rider in the high Himalayas.

Harbour Market

This photograph captures the harmony and rhythm of daily life, highlighting the energy and vibrancy of a beachside market.

Celebrity

A praying mantis photographed on a thistle flower in the soft morning light.

Happiness Seller

A ‘happiness seller’ waits for worshippers to leave the mosque after Eid prayers in Old Cairo, Egypt.

V

Using the underside of a bridge to create a strong vanishing point, this photograph draws the viewer’s eye towards the horizon, where structure, water and city converge. The narrowing lines emphasise depth and scale, transforming the bridge into a visual pathway between the urban landscape and fading light.

Adrift in the Sea of Weeds

Photographed from above, a small boat drifts through dense underwater vegetation, surrounded by shifting currents and light. The image reflects the fragility of human presence within a vast, living seascape.

Dawn Over the Wetlands

Taken in the east of Sri Lanka at dawn, this aerial photograph presents a calm moment of daily life, as a herd of buffalo cross a shallow lagoon.

Threads of Life

This portrait of a jute labourer carrying bundles of raw jute from the river to a warehouse captures the resilience and hardship behind Bangladesh’s jute industry. The tones of the fibres merge with the subject’s beard and face, symbolising the weight and intensity of his work.

Untitled

Photographed from above in Cappadocia, Turkey, a dramatic moment unfolds as a horseman charges through a cloud of dust, trying to lead a powerful herd. The dust and movement convey a scene of chaos and control, speed and symmetry, which captures the timeless bond between human and horse.

The End of the Day

As the sun sets, a local fisherman brings his boat and the day’s catch to shore on Bantayan Island, Cebu, Philippines.

Twilight

A cold morning in the Katpana Desert in Skardu. The first light of day pierces the blue hour.

The Eye: Window to the Soul

Blakiston’s fish owl is a nocturnal bird of prey that relies on its keen hearing and sight for hunting. This carefully timed photograph captures one of the owl’s eyes, revealed through its flight feathers.

Atelopus seminiferus

The Upper Amazon Stubfoot Toad is one of the world’s most impressive amphibians. Having travelled thousands of kilometres and walked for several hours, the photographer encountered this male toad trying to attract a female in with his song, in San Martin, Peru.

Hermanas

This photograph pays homage to the Chicano style, the Virgin Mary and Frida Kahlo’s painting The Two Fridas.

Eyes of the Mountain

‘In Patagonia, our eyes are the mountains.’ Taken at Cerro Piltriquitron in El Bolsón, Argentina.

Memoria

This self-portrait was made with the help of three friends, recreating an image of the photographer’s grandmother that was taken 69 years ago. She passed away a couple of months before this photograph was made, and restaging it became a way of honouring her memory and keeping her presence alive.

Penda

Photographed in an open field in Costa Brava, this portrait captures its subject in a quiet moment. Something in her gaze caught the photographer’s attention, and the exposure was made at the brief, striking moment when their eyes met.

Yolanda

Yolanda is a photographic series born from the photographer’s encounter with a domestic worker of the same name. Through intimate, direct portraits it seeks to reveal the strength and dignity that sustain Yolanda’s days, reflecting both her own life and that of many women in Latin America who support other households while carrying their own dreams and struggles.

Hunting Game

A Galápagos sea lion swims through a dense school of black salema fish. Captured during a dive in the Galápagos Islands, the image reveals the predator’s agility against the fluid patterns of the fish, providing a raw look at the survival instincts, and the high-energy interactions that define this unique volcanic ecosystem.

Bodies of Water

This photograph presents an intimate act of communion with water, the source that nourishes life. Memory and the present merge, reminding the viewer that within its depths lies the force that sustains the land.

Symmetry

A common murre faces the lens, its perfect symmetry reflecting the precision of nature.

Untitled

Inti Raymi is an important annual celebration in Andean culture that takes place on 24 June in Cusco, Peru. Dance plays a central and symbolic role, representing the worship of the sun (Inti) and the renewal of the agricultural cycle, capturing the connection with nature.

Konco Wingking: Strength in Silence

‘Konco wingking,’ meaning ‘friend behind,’ reflects the traditional role of Javanese women supporting their husbands. While women’s roles have evolved, many still quietly shape family life. This portrait explores tradition, identity, and strength through the contrast of the subject’s hijab and her husband’s coat.

Flora

This photograph anthropomorphises the angelica flower, revealing its radiant symmetry against a stark black background. The delicate branching forms resemble a graceful being extending outward, evoking movement and life. Through monochrome tones and precise detail, the image transforms a simple botanical subject into a poetic figure.

Rest

Cheonggyecheon in Seoul, South Korea, is a sanctuary for workers in the concrete jungle. When the stream finally opened for the first time in 20 years, people cast aside their urban restraint and embraced the raw, healing power of the water.