“Edge of the Feast” by Michelle Valberg (Canada). Professional Photographer of the Year.
The best photographs surprise viewers and bring them into a unique, inspiring moment. This is exactly what the winners of the 2026 European Photography Awards have done. With over 3,000 submissions from more than 40 countries, this year’s awards bring together fine art, nature, architecture, and human photography across 13 categories, capturing an array of moments from around the world.
Canadian photographer Michelle Valberg’s Edge of the Feast won the Professional Photographer of the Year Award with her stunning capture of a humpback whale in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. The whale breaches the surface of the water at the precise moment a seagull flies directly above its open mouth. The composition’s sharpness and timing highlight Valberg’s photographic skill while bringing the viewer into this chance, cross-species encounter.
With over four decades of experience capturing nature's wonders, Valberg’s work is widely recognized, appearing around the world on stamps, coins, magazine covers, and in galleries. She also founded the nonprofit Project North, which has raised and delivered more than $2 million in sporting equipment to youth across more than 40 Arctic communities.
The Amateur Photographer of the Year Award went to Thea Mihu for The White Harvest, which captures the longstanding practice of salt harvesting in Vietnam’s Hon Khoi Salt Fields. In the photo, three workers march across a narrow path through one of the shallow evaporation ponds, carrying baskets on their shoulders. The pond, which appears impossibly vast around the figures, reflects the sky, creating the visual effect of the workers walking through the clouds.
Mihu’s photo manages to capture a centuries-old practice that stands out even more amid the rapid modernization of traditional industries. In doing so, she preserves a moment that will hopefully stand the test of time.
Across the other divisions, there were many incredible standouts. In Eva Wang’s BLACK HOLE, a face emerges through fractured ice, cracking the metaphorical surface of the photo. In another of Valberg’s images, Standing Tall, a sweeping view of king penguins along the shore of South Georgia provides a rare look at these creatures within the otherworldly landscape of the sub-Antarctic wilderness.
Other winning images turn their attention to people, places, and traditions undergoing change. Roberto Pazzi’s Vanishing Worlds, winner of the professional People Photography category, is part of his larger project documenting communities whose traditions and ways of life are increasingly threatened by globalization and modernization.
In Silent Resilience, professional Editorial Photography winner Lucas Dragone captures a woman sitting amid a partially demolished neighborhood in Wuhan, China. Surrounded by rubble and everyday belongings, she remains still as the city transforms around her.
Architecture takes center stage in Felipe Martín-Serrano Ortiz’s L’Arbre Urbain: Montpellier’s White Canopy. The amateur Architecture Photography winner looks up at L’Arbre Blanc in Montpellier, France, whose dramatic balconies extend outward like branches. Two cyclists passing beneath the building emphasize the enormous scale of the structure.
Taken together, the winning entries show the many different ways photographers can capture the world around them. Whether preserving a longstanding tradition, catching a fleeting wildlife encounter, or finding beauty within a changing city, each image asks the viewer to stop and take a closer look.
The winning images in the 2026 European Photography Awards competition showcase everything from centuries-old traditions to the wonders of the natural world.
“The White Harvest” by Thea Mihu (Germany). Amateur Photographer of the Year.
Some photographers blur the line between portraiture and abstraction.
“Black Hole” by Eva Wang (China). Category Winner, Professional Fine Art Photography – Portrait.
Other images capture wildlife thriving in some of the planet’s most remote landscapes.
“Standing Tall” by Michelle Valberg (Canada). Category Winner, Professional Nature Photography – Wildlife.
Photographers also turn their lenses towards cultures and traditions at risk of disappearing.
“Vanishing Worlds” by Roberto Pazzi (Italy). Category Winner, Professional People Photography – Culture.
As traditions change, so do the cities and communities people call home.
“Silent Resilience” by Lucas Dragone (Belgium). Category Winner, Professional Editorial Photography – General News.
Even modern architecture offers a chance to see the world from a new perspective.
“L-Arbre Urbain: Montpellier’s white canopy” by Felipe Martín-Serrano Ortiz (Spain). Category Winner, Amateur Architecture Photography – Building.
“The Silent Crater 0280 The Narrative” by Satheesh Nair (India). Category Winner, Amateur Fine Art Photography – Landscape.
“Glass Bauhinia” by Derry Ainsworth (Hong Kong SAR). Category Winner, Professional Fine Art Photography – Architecture.
“Hong Kong From Above” by Derry Ainsworth (Hong Kong SAR). Category Winner, Professional Architecture Photography – Drone.
“Veins of Fire” by Andreia Costa (Portugal). Category Winner, Amateur Nature Photography – Natural Art.
“Brings quiet beauty” by Ryuta Suzuki (Japan). Category Winner, Amateur Nature Photography – Macro.
“Weightless morning” by Thibault Gerbaldi (United States). Category Winner, Amateur People Photography – Children.
“The Look” by Elke Braet (Belgium). Category Winner, Professional Europe Photography – Belgium Photography.
