From elephant close-ups in Tanzania to fishermen working in the Siberian tundra, the winners of a prestigious travel photography award have been announced.
The Travel Photographer Of The Year 2025 competition showcases the best work in travel photography.
It includes a range of categories, including Young Photographer and many portfolio sections.
Judge Krystal Chryssomallis said: ‘The standard this year was outstanding.
‘The strongest photographs carried depth, intention and emotion, demonstrating the narrative power of a single image and reminding us that our world, when truly seen, is extraordinarily powerful and beautiful.’
This year, the competition’s 23rd, saw winners chosen from more than 20,000 images submitted by amateur and professional photographers in 160 countries.
This year’s overall winner is Athanasios Maloukos, from Greece, who snapped up the award for two bodies of work exploring ritual, belief and movement.
Read on to see a selection of this year’s breathtaking entries – including Athanasios’s incredible work…
Overall Winner: Travel Photographer of the Year 2025 – Athanasios Maloukos, Greece. This series, Night of Sorrows, shows the ‘Yacente’ Procession – one of Zamora, Spain’s most profound Holy Week rituals
Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2025 – Jamie Smart, UK. Aged 10, Jamie said: ‘I was very fortunate to get to travel to Australia and visit the Zoo Hospital and have access to see the incredible work they do there. This is a photo of a veterinary nurse holding a very young bat that had been brought in by a member of the public who had found it out in the wild’
Jamie added: ‘Here is an image of a Grey – Headed Flying Fox in flight during a very hot day in Melbourne, Australia. During my trip to Australia I was lucky to get to see some bats being cared for and rescued at Australia Zoo. We then travelled to Melbourne to find a colony of them living wild in the trees. What a fantastic sight it was! It was such a hot day when we were there that many of the bats would fly around to get some air underneath’
Winner: Young Travel Photographer Of The Year (14 years and under) is Naomi Cech, from Czech Republic/Czechia (age 11) – her images focus on mushrooms
Matei Mărăcineanu is a 15-year-old wildlife photographer from Romania who won in the age 15-18 category. This image was taken in Morii Lake, Bucharest – which is home to many beautiful birds
Winner: Adventures and Experiences portfolio – Sara Bardotti, Italy. Her work captures Yamal peninsula, Siberia, Russia. She says: ‘It’s time to see what the lake has gifted. The ropes begin to dance, whispering of life beneath the ice’
Single Image Winner: Adventures & Experiences – Frederico Figueiredo Cerdeira, Brazil. This winning image was taken in Cloudbreak Reef, Tavarua Island, Fiji
Portfolio winner: Cultures, Heritage and Beliefs – Mitchell Kanashkevich, Australia. This image, taken in Ouadane, Mauritania, shows: ‘Boys in a dimly lit classroom recite verses from memory, their wooden tablets (lawh) marked with inked script. The repetition and vocal rhythm form both prayer and pedagogy, a practice rooted in West African Islamic education for over a millennium’
Single Image Winner: Cultures, Heritage and Beliefs – Dashawatar Gopalkrishna Bade from India. In this shot, revellers enjoy the Pandharpur Wari pilgrimage in rural Maharashtra
Portfolio Winner: Landscape, Weather & Climate – Paul Sansome, UK. Paul said: ‘In a week of touring North Iceland there had been no quality light for landscape photography at all. The day started as all the others had, with a bl and blue sky and sunshine. However within 10 miles we drove into a bank of sea fog and a session with such beautiful light filtering through the fog onto the calm sea. The fog thinning and thickening to reveal and then hide elements of the landscape’
Single Image Winner: Landscape, Weather & Climate – Laetitia Guichard, France. She said: I took this photo during an air show in France, at La Ferté – Alais. A funnel cloud formed during the show; some planes continued to fly, although there was still some distance between the planes and the funnel. Shortly afterwards, the weather cleared up’
Portfolio Winner: Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife – Mohammad Murad, Kuwait. Of this shot, the photographer said: ‘Framed by the glow of Kuwait City’s streetlights, an Arabian red fox kitten explores the night outside its den — a rare sight for a species that normally breeds deep in the desert’
Single Image Winner: Wildlife, Sealife & Birdlife – Kevin Yu Shi, US. This shot portrays Chile’s Torres Del Paine, famous for its stunning landscapes. But it’s also home to a fierce predator – the puma. These majestic creatures primarily feed on guanacos
One Shot Winner: Green Planet – John Edwards, US. ‘I captured this image shortly after sunrise in a quiet region of Thailand, whose name [Sukhothai] fittingly translates to “Dawn of Happiness”,’ said John
One Shot Winner: Slow Travel – Teo Chin Leong, Singapore ‘A lone corporate worker hurries across a large junction in Tokyo, the only human being in the frame,’ said Teo Chin Leong. ‘This series depicts the overwhelming loneliness and the hectic pace of living in a large city’
Winner: Travel Image of the Year – Dana Allen, US. Shot in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the image also won the One Shot: Travel in Monochrome category
One Shot Winner: Travel Portraits – Rahsan Firtina, Turkey. Taken in Hanoi, Vietnam, this image shows a man sitting at the foreground, lost in thought, while retired colonel’s play table tennis behind him
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