Stunning Images From Travel Photographer Of The Year 2025
Travel Photographer of the Year 2025 isn’t just a trophy list, it’s a highlight reel of people freezing wild moments before they vanish. One shot in monochrome, a sealife frame that feels like it’s still moving, and portraits that look like they’re staring straight back.
And then it gets messy in the best way, because the competition is stacked across categories like One Shot, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio, Adventures & Experiences, and Cultures, Heritage & Beliefs. Dana Allen takes Winner, One Shot - Travel In Monochrome, while Kevin Yu Shi’s Birdlife Portfolio hits so hard it wins its own lane. In the background, runners up like Teo Chin Leong keep popping up in different categories, including One Shot - Travel Portraits, and the same names keep reappearing with different strengths.
By the time you reach Athanasios Maloukas’s Overall Winner title, you realize this year’s story is really about who could capture “travel” from every angle at once.
Winner, One Shot – Travel In Monochrome: Dana Allen, USA
Winner, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Kevin Yu Shi, USA
Runner Up, One Shot – Travel Portraits: Teo Chin Leong, Singapore
Highly Commended, One Shot – Travel Portraits: Rahsan Firtina, Turkey
Overall Winner, The Travel Photographer Of The Year 2025: Athanasios Maloukas, Greece
Commended, Adventures & Experiences Portfolio: Katy Gomez Catalina, Spain
Winner, Rising Talent: Sue O'connell, UK
Runner Up, Cultures, Heritage & Beliefs Portfolio: Dashawatar Gopalkrishna Bade, India
Winner, Young Travel Photographer Of The Year 2025: Jamie Smart, UK (Age 1 0 )
Winner, Cultures, Heritage & Beliefs Portfolio: Mitchell Kanashkevich, Australia
Special Mention, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Javier Herranz Casellas, Spain
Runner Up, Adventures & Experiences Portfolio: Teo Chin Leong, Singapore
Runner Up, Landscape, Weather & Climate Portfolio: Suliman Alatiqi, Kuwait
Highly Commended, One Shot – Slow Travel: Tori Savage, Australia
Winner, Adventures & Experiences Portfolio: Sara Bardotti, Italy
Highly Commended, Cultures, Heritage & Beliefs Portfolio: Teo Chin Leong, Singapore
Want more rule-breaking than Kevin Yu Shi’s sealife shots, check these non-professional winners of the 2025 International Photography Awards.
Highly Commended, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Giacomo Marchione, Italy
Winner, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Mohammad Murad, Kuwait
Runner Up, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Emma Parker, USA
Winner, One Shot – Green Planet: John Edwards, USA
Commended, One Shot – Travel Portraits: Trevor Cole, Ireland
Winner, Rising Talent: Maruša Uranjek, Slovenia
Commended, Cultures, Heritage & Beliefs Portfolio: Thibault Gerbaldi, France
Highly Commended Landscape, Weather & Climate Portfolio: Marek Biegalski, Poland
Commended, Landscape, Weather & Climate Portfolioz: Ignacio Palacios, Spain/Australia
Runner Up, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Panagiotis Dalagiorgos, Greece
Winner, One Shot – Travel Portraits: Rahsan Firtina, Turkey
Winner, Rising Talent: Silke Hullman, Germany
Winner, Young Tpoty Age 15 - 18: Matei Mărăcineanu, Romania (Age 15 )
Winner, Landscape, Weather & Climate Portfolio: Paul Sansome, UK
Winner, Young Tpoty 14 Years And Under: Naomi Cech, Czech Republic/Czechia (Age 11)
Runner Up, Young Tpoty 14 Years And Under: Zoe Wacker, USA (Age 12 )
Runner Up, Young Tpoty Age 15 - 18: Kabiur Rahman Riyad, Bangladesh
Highly Commended, Young Tpoty (Age 15–18): Kirsty Larmour, Ireland (Age 17)
Highly Commended, Adventures & Experiences Portfolio: Alessandra Mazzotti, Italy
Highly Commended, Young Tpoty 14 Years And Under: Ankur Chatterjee, USA (Age 14 )
Commended, Adventures & Experiences Portfolio: Angiolo Manetti, Italy
Commended, Wildlife, Sealife, Birdlife Portfolio: Suliman Alatiqi, Kuwait
Dana Allen’s monochrome win sets the mood, then Kevin Yu Shi’s sealife and birdlife portfolio shows the judges were ready to be blown away by colorless intensity and underwater chaos.
The momentum shifts when Teo Chin Leong shows up as Runner Up in One Shot - Travel Portraits, and again later as Runner Up in Adventures & Experiences, basically saying one lens was not enough.
Travel photography has a way of bringing distant places closer, and the 2025 TPOTY winners show just how powerful that can be. From quiet cultural moments to dramatic scenes filled with movement and emotion, these images reveal the richness of life across the world.
Athanasios Maloukos’s winning series stands as a strong example of how curiosity, patience, and passion can turn everyday moments into unforgettable photographs.
This year’s winners didn’t just travel, they proved the camera can turn a split second into a whole universe.
Dive deeper into the tiny marine drama behind these underwater photos from 2026.
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