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Winners Epson International Pano Awards 2025 were announced, demonstrating photos our great, big, beautiful world in super-wide glory. Italian Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) won Photographer of the Year in the Open Competition and in the Nature/Landscape category for his fine art landscapes (see above and below). There were more photos among this year's 3,423 entries Northern lights than usual coincides with the maximum of the 11-year solar cycle.
“The Last Fireworks” took first place in the category and was the overall winner of the open competition. Describing “The Last Fireworks,” Wides said: “When the sun went down, the sky literally exploded. Layer after layer of clouds lit up, painting the desert with fire and gold. Using my Sony A7 IV with a fisheye lens on a tripod, I took a full series of multiple exposures at f/8 and ISO 100, carefully rotating around a focal point to create a seamless 360° panorama.” Image: Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) / 16th Epson International Pano Awards.
“The entries at the Pano Awards are always exceptional and this year the creativity has really been taken to the next level,” Epson Australia managing director Craig Heckenberg said in a press release. “It's great to see so many wide and ultra-wide panoramas this year, a format we hold dear because they can be faithfully and accurately reproduced by Epson's large format photo printers. Pano Award winners are an inspiration to all photographers of all skill levels. At Epson, we pride ourselves on embracing innovation and creativity, which is why we continue to support and sponsor these unique awards.”
Additional category winners and other impressive panoramic images are featured below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)
Kevin Newn won Amateur Photographer of the Year for three entries, including Altiplano Landscape Shot in Bolivia. Image: Kevin / 16th Epson International Pano Awards.“Hverarönd Aurora” took first place in the VR/360 photography category. Christoph Simon from Germany took this photo of the northern lights over the Hverarond geothermal area in Iceland. Image: Christophe Simon / 16th Epson International Pano Awards. Daniel Vigne Garcia from Spain received the Epson Digital Art Prize for his film “Waves of Tradition,” filmed in Hoi An, Vietnam. Commenting on her image, Vigne says: “In this coastal village in Vietnam, survival is woven in silence. These women, working in the morning shade and salt-laced air, are the invisible guardians of livelihoods. The networks they mend are not just tools, but lifelines, tying sea and community together.” Image: Daniel Vigne Garcia/16th Epson International Pano Awards.Vitaly Golovatyuk received the award for best aerial panorama for his photograph of Hong Kong entitled “Not the Tiny Island of Hong Kong.” Image: Vitaly Golovatyuk / 16th Epson International Pano Awards.In “Different Colors,” patterns captured with polarized light after hydrolysis and crystallization. Image: Ye Yi / 16th Epson International Pano Awards. A small lizard with a large lion in the Serengeti of Tanzania in The Lion Whisperer. Image: Marina Kano/16th Epson International Pano Awards.Chris Byrne won a Curator's Award for his peaceful depiction of Mount Rainier in Washington state, titled “Elysium.” Image: Chris Byrne/16th Epson International Pano AwardsA Tongan humpback whale swims past an island in the film “Welcome to the Whales.”Image: Matthew Smith/16th Epson International Pano Awards.In the movie Glow in Silence, fireflies glow in Taiwan. Image: Shirley Wung/16th Epson International Pano Awards.The sun rises over the Lofoten Islands, Norway, next to a colorful rainbow in Lofoten Sunrise. Image: Stefan Liebermann/16th Epson International Pano Awards.“Yellow Forest” provides a close-up view of the pollination process in Idaho. Image: Brian Klopp / 16th Epson International Pano Awards.The “jackpot” was caught in Rago National Park, Norway. Alex says: “After finishing the tour of Senja Island, I headed to the filming location hoping for good weather. When I opened the tent on the last try, I hit the jackpot. The sky exploded with a spectacular half-hour spectacle of the northern lights. It was a wonderful reward after years of waiting.” Image: Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) / 16th Epson International Pano Awards.
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