2025 Competition Results and Gallery

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You can browse through each of the awarded images on this page, or click on the links below to jump to that section.

Photographer of the Year
Photograph of the Year
Grand Landscape
Intimate Landscape
Abstract Landscape
Projects
Special Awards

Photographer of the Year, Winner

Joy Kachina

I wish to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the judges and the founders of NLPA—Tim, Matt, Alex, and Rajesh—for creating such an inspiring competition. Congratulations to all the Category Winners and the vibrant photographic community that has passionately shared their vision of a brighter and more beautiful world through their imagery. Together, we celebrate the transformative art of photography and its remarkable ability to uplift, inspire, and heal.
With Kindness Always,” – Joy Kachina

Photographer of the Year, Runner Up

Lukas Furlan

Photographer of the Year, Third Place

Matt Jackisch

Photographer of the Year, Fourth Place

Scott Oller

Photographer of the Year, Fifth Place

Vojtech Schmidt

Photographer of the Year, 6th Place

Magnus Reneflot

Photograph of the Year

Margrit Schwarz

“I am deeply honored to receive Photograph of the Year, and I thank the founders and judges for their dedication to this fantastic competition. It is a privilege to have my work recognized among so many exceptional photographs submitted and awarded this year. This image is a synthesis of my emotions and experiences during a twelve-day river trip deep inside the Grand Canyon. What moved me most were the hidden abstract forms shaped by stone, water, and time — details that spoke with as much power and mystery as the immense landscapes above.” – Margrit Schwarz

Grand Landscape

Intimate Landscape

Abstract Landscape

Project Winner, Hanneke Van Camp

Sápmi – Living Landscapes

Ever since I first traveled to Sápmi, the Sami homeland in Northern Europe, I’ve felt a deep connection to its landscapes. I kept coming back and stayed longer and longer, learning more about both the environment and the culture it harbours.

These last few years it’s become my part-time home, and while I’ve grown attached to it, I’ve also become more aware of the threats and challenges it faces today.

Hidden behind the beauty of these seemingly untouched landscapes, lies a way of life almost invisible today, rooted deeply in respect for all living things. In the face of mass consumption, climate change, mining and deforestation, they’re a hopeful invitation to reconnect with nature – and ourselves, creating a future where culture and nature go hand in hand again.

“I’m so enthusiastic, grateful, and truly happy to receive this award! It’s not always easy to let more quiet images stand out, so it means a lot that, after years of working on and resubmitting this series, it has been recognized with the Project of the Year award. This work and these landscapes are very close to my heart, and with the project now coming to a close in the form of a book, the timing feels especially meaningful.

A heartfelt thank you to the founders and judges of NLPA for celebrating nature in such an honest and authentic way. It’s inspiring to be part of a community that not only values photography, but also the beauty and importance of the natural world we capture.” – Hanneke Van Camp

Project, Runner Up – Feli Hansen

Guilty Trashures

Plastic pollution is everywhere. Yet, somehow, remains unseen by many. It has become such a part of our environment that it is no longer noticeable. I wanted to make the invisible visible again, so it cannot be ignored.

Plastic pollution doesn’t just mar our landscapes; it poisons them. Is this how we want to see our nature? We must act now, to preserve the beauty and vitality of our planet.

I had to find the waste like this. A little twisting, stretching, crumpling or wiggling was allowed, but it must always keep a tangent to the original spot.

Project, Third Place – Theo Bosboom

Flowerscapes – A bug’s eye view

What would an ant see if it looked up while walking through a field of flowers? Or a ladybird resting for a moment on a stem of a flower? How fantastic it would be if you could photograph this view! Until recently, you could only dream and fantasize about this. But some time ago, when a long narrow wide-angle macro lens that you can rotate 360 degrees came on the market, I saw an opportunity to make the dream a reality. It was like I was given the key that gave access to a wonderful secret world, I felt very privileged and excited!

It marked the beginning of a personal journey of discovery through countless flower fields and other places where flowers grow, such as roadside verges, forests, dunes, and parks — mostly in the Netherlands and sometimes just across the border in Germany or Belgium. The endlessly surprising perspectives completely captivated me, and I found myself constantly marvelling at their beauty, elegance, and strength. I decided to put my other photography projects on hold for a while and devote myself entirely to capturing flowerscapes: flowers in their natural habitat, seen from ground level. This also matched my desire as a photographer to work more locally and to reduce my environmental impact. Most destinations were within an hour’s reach, and in some cases, I could even get there on foot or by bike.

With this photo series, my aim is not only to surprise my audience with the surprising perspectives, but also to draw attention to the great importance of wildflowers and the urgency to better protect them. Both wild flowers and insects have declined dramatically in Western Europe over the past decades, a deeply worrying situation.

But all in all, this was a project that brought me above all joy and renewed hope. It allowed me to regularly drift into daydreams and escape from the often troubling news at home and abroad. It reminded me that there is still so much beauty in our own nature — beauty that is worth protecting and fighting for.

Project, Highly Commended – Lukas Furlan

Among Bare Branches

Winter transforms the forest into a realm of muted hues. Yet, defying this seasonal slumber, vibrant, spherical clusters of Viscum (mistletoe) punctuate the canopy with an almost otherworldly green. This photographic project explores the stark, surreal beauty of these parasitic plants, capturing their tenacious grip on life and their striking silhouettes against the quiet desolation of the winter landscape.

Project, Highly Commended – Joshua Wallace

Realms of the Reptiles and Amphibians

Reptiles and Amphibians are fantastic animals with breathtaking adaptations in order to call all of the diverse landscapes and habitats of our incredible planet home. However they live cryptic secretive lives hidden from all but the most curious eyes.

This collection of photographs highlight my favorite animals that I have been fortunate enough to spend a few moments with while pursuing landscape photography adventures.

Project, Highly Commended – Magnus Reneflot

With Bird’s Eyes from Local Ice Destinations

As a nature photographer I have always been interested in looking for exciting patterns and shapes in nature.
I like mostly the graphic landscape and ice surfaces have always fascinated me. I started drone photography, and completely new and exciting possibilities opened. I have short distance to fresh and salt water and can study how the ice surfaces change day by day in the period from the first ice in november until it melt down in april. All pictures is from 4 to 1 miles from home, 7 pictures from salt water surface and 3 pictures from fresh water surface.

Special Awards

Desert Landscapes

Frozen Worlds

In Your Backyard

Mountains

Rocks and Geology

Seascapes

Tropical Landscapes

Woodlands

Statistics

The 5th annual NLPA was quite competitive! 11,023 photographs were submitted to the competition by 1,134 photographers from 64 countries, including:

• 3,513 Grand Landscape photographs
• 3,829 Intimate Landscape photographs
• 1,422 Abstract Landscape photographs
• 235 Projects

Of these, 3,688 photographs made it to the RAW verification stage and final judging. From here, the judges narrowed down their top selections to just 130 photographs for the live finals, which lasted 5 hours via Zoom. Learn more about our rigorous and transparent judging process.