The 2024 winners of the “Epson International Pano Awards” have been announced. This competition rewards the best panoramic photos each year. Find our selection of 17 photos.
The “Epson International Pano Awards 2024”, one of the largest international competitions dedicated to panoramic photography, revealed on October 1, the winning images of the 15th edition. Created by Australian landscape photographer David Evans and sponsored by Epson, this competition celebrates panoramic photography by rewarding professional and amateur photographers from around the world every year since 2010.
Big winner of the competition, Hong Kong landscape photographer Kevin Yuen was crowned “Open Photographer of the Year 2024”, for his remarkable and spectacular photo of a landscape of the sugarloaf mountains of Guilin, during a stormy night , in southern China.
This year, 4,529 applications from 1,105 photographers from 95 countries were submitted for evaluation by the international jury made up of experienced photographers and image professionals. The competition has two categories, the Open Awards and the Amateur Awards, a section intended strictly for amateur photographers, which each have subcategories Nature/Landscape and Built Environment/Architecture. Note that several special prizes were awarded.
Find here all the winners and winning photos of the Epson International Pano Awards, and discover our selection below.
winner “open photographer of the year” and 1st place open awards – nature/landscape category
Big winner of the overall competition by winning the prize of “Open Photographer of the Year 2024”, Kevin Yuen also won the prize in the Nature/Landscape category of the Open Awards for “Power of Nature”, a panoramic image of the famous mountains in sugar loaf shapes from Guilin, Guangxi Autonomous Region, southern China. In addition, by totaling the best score of aerial images, “Power of Nature” allowed the Hong Kong landscape photographer to obtain a special prize. “The main objective of this trip was to photograph Guilin’s iconic mountains, famous for their karst formations. The day I took this photo, I woke up at 3am and was supposed to go for a hike to watch the sunrise. However, a violent storm appeared out of nowhere, and so I decided to photograph it. I flew my drone while waiting for lightning for safety reasons. The drone surprised me by working after 30 minutes of rain. In total, I took 700 photos with the same compositions, of which more than 40 were lightning photos,” he said. “This photo is my favorite because the lightning illuminates this mountainous landscape,” said the Chinese photographer based in Hong Kong.
If the “Open Photographer of the Year 2024” prize was awarded to Kevin Yuen, it is also due to the ranking of two other of his photos in the competition, namely “Wilderness” (photo above) and “Mountain of Divinity” (photo below), came in third and fourth place respectively at the Open Awards, in the Nature/Landscape category.
2nd place – open awards – nature/landscape category
Italian landscape photographer Alessandro Cantarelli won second place at the Open Awards, in the Nature/Landscape category, for this 360° panorama, a composite of 12 images taken from Mount Fitz Roy, in Patagonia, on the border with Argentina and from Chile.
winner of the Epson Digital Art Prize and 1st place – open awards – built environment/architecture category
Vietnamese photographer Tuan Nguyen Tan received the Epson Digital Art Prize for his panoramic drone shot of chrysanthemum cultivation on trellises in a horticultural village in southern Vietnam. In addition, this photo by Tuan Nguyen Tan was ranked first by the competition jury in the Open Awards in the Built Environment/Architecture category. “I love photographing the landscapes and traditional artisan villages of my country, especially Sadec, a horticultural village specializing in the cultivation of flowers and especially golden chrysanthemums, located in Dong Thap province, Vietnam,” said indicated Tuan Nguyen Tan.
2nd place open awards – built environment/architecture category
South African photographer and videographer Jay Caboz won second place at the Open Awards, in the Built Environment/Architecture category, for a panoramic view of Lion’s Head Mountain, which emerges from the fog at blue hour and dominates the city of Cape Town, South Africa, February 20, 2024.
3rd place open awards – built environment/architecture category
Chinese photographer Huan Wen Jing was recognized in the competition for his panoramic image of the city of Shenzhen, a metropolis linking Hong Kong to mainland China.
lauréat vertical image – open awards
Yuan Yakun is the winner of this award which recognizes the vertical panoramic image which received the highest score in the competition and which ranked 6th in the Open Awards in the Built Environment/Architecture category. The Chinese photographer took this splendid shot in the city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, China.
winner of “amateur photographer of the year” and 1st place – amateur awards – nature/landscape category
The jury awarded the title of “Amateur Photographer of the Year 2024” to Diego Manrique Diez for his incredible panoramic photo of an aurora borealis captured on Senja, an island in Norway, located in the north of the country. This exceptional shot by the Spanish photographer reached the top step of the Amateur Awards podium, in the Nature/Landscape category. “This magical and magnificent panorama is a dream come true. Northern Norway and its Arctic islands don’t give us much chance of clear skies in winter. Frustration and loneliness haunted me these days after seven nights without a green color in the sky. That night, a majestic aurora began to dance above the impressive mountains, surrounded by a perfect foreground with its incredible texture created by the snow. The reflection enhances the scene. It looked like the lights were posing in front of a mirror,” he confided.
The Spanish landscape photographer’s coronation was also assured thanks to the ranking of two other of his photos of the Northern Lights (photos below), “Green Storm” and “Spiral”, ranked 10th and 11th respectively in the Amateur Awards, in the Nature/Landscape category.
2nd place amateur awards – nature/landscape category
“Visiting an ice cave is always a great experience, but having a beautiful sunrise there is simply incredible!” said Markus van Hauten about his stunning shot. The German landscape photographer has a real passion for Iceland and its magnificent natural landscapes, since he discovered it in 2006, during a trip with his wife.
3rd place amateur awards – nature/landscape category
To create this extraordinary view of the Milky Way illuminating the sand dunes, the Italian Matteo Strassera traveled in 2024 to the Rub al Khali desert, one of the largest sand deserts in the world, located for essential in the territory of Saudi Arabia but also Yemen, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
1st place amateur awards – built environment/architecture
Hong Kong photographer Danny Hau is the author of this remarkable photo of one of the buildings of Lai Tak Tsuen, a famous social housing complex built in 1975 in Hong Kong. The unique cylindrical shape of the buildings has made it a must-see for architecture lovers.
2nd place amateur awards – built environment/architecture
Thai blogger and landscape photographer Wutimet Bunyasirisith’s incredible photo of the Hong Kong sunset took second place in the Amateurs Awards, in the Built Environment/Architecture category.
3rd place amateur awards – built environment/architecture
Already awarded in other photo competitions, this black and white shot by Marie-Line Dentler is part of a series taken at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Richelieu site, a few months after its reopening after ten years of renovation. “This is an abstract view of the new main staircase designed by the Gaudin Architectes workshop. The modern steel and aluminum staircase which rises to the upper floors replaces an old monumental staircase. The replacement was not without controversy during the project phase. For me, this grand staircase embodies the renewal of the Richelieu site. Taking this photo also coincided for me with what I consider to be a renewed approach to photography, a turning point,” declared the Swiss photographer of Martinican origin.
lauréat curator’s award 2024 – open awards
Australian landscape photographer Tom Putt was awarded this prize for favorite image in the competition by David Evans, creator and organizer of the competition. “Located in the northwest of Australia, the Kimberley region comes alive during the rainy season. That’s why I planned a seven-day helicopter safari to capture the incredible torrential rains. We had no idea of the deluge that was coming. After refueling, we took off and were immediately confronted by this menacing “monster”. I asked the pilot to move south to avoid getting caught in the deluge. The meandering King George River provided the perfect foreground for the panoramic image, which will stay with me forever,” said Australian landscape photographer Tom Putt.
