The 2025 Environmental Photography Awards gallery winners are a collection of inspirational to downright heart-wrenching photos that show just how powerful photographers can be.

Founded in 2021 to celebrate the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s 15th anniversary, the annual Environmental Photography Awards reward and honor photographers who highlight environmental challenges and raise awareness on major environmental issues.

“Photographic art, with its immediate and universal language, represents a formidable vehicle for raising awareness. It reinforces, in a virtuous way, the process of awareness on major environmental issues, such as biodiversity, climate and the ocean,” the Foundation writes.

“Environmental photographers can encourage us to change, to innovate, to invent sustainable solutions in order to better rethink our lives and our economies. They reveal a real ‘field of possibilities’ for new generations who aspire to a more harmonious relationship with Nature. The photographs — almost 11,000 images participated in the 3rd edition of the competition in 2024 — are carefully selected by a jury of internationally renowned professional photographers for their technical and aesthetic excellence but also, and above all, for the relevance and strength of their message.”

2025 Environmental Photography Awards Categories

The 2025 Environmental Photography Awards are separated into five categories to highlight photography across multiple areas of need. The categories are: Polar Wonders, Into the Forest, Ocean Worlds, Humanity versus Nature, and Change Makers: Reasons for Hope. Winners receive various honors from grants to publication in the competition’s book, as well as the possibility to be featured in the Environmental Photography Award 2025 exhibition in Monaco on the Promenade du Larvotto, from June 3 to July 31, 2025, and on its international tour.

The five category winners each receive a €1,000 grant, plus a Grand Prize Winner, selected from the overall category winners, receives a €5,000 grant. Additionally, a Public Award winner, chosen by online voters, received a €500 grant for their winning image aandan invitation (including travel and accommodation) to visit the SEK International University’s Amazon research station in Ecuador. Lastly, a Student Award winner, also chosen by public vote, received a €500 grant.

Between the jury selections and public award winners, 36 photographs were selected for the 2025 edition’s exhibition and publication. Competition organizers shared that all shortlisted photographers will be included in the Environmental Photography Award 2025 exhibition, and they will be published in the Environmental Photography Award 2025 book released in June.

2025 Environmental Photography Awards Jury

The jury for 2025 Environmental Photography Awards included prestigious names in the photography and environmental industry, with the President of the Jury held by Ami Vitale: a Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic photographer and documentary filmmaker (USA), Contest Chairman Sergio Pitamitz: Conservation and wildlife photographer and National Geographic photographer for National Geographic Expeditions, followed by jurors Emanuele Biggi: Naturalist and conservation photographer specializing in small vertebrates and arthropods (Italy), Aaron Gekoski: Photojournalist and filmmaker, specialising in human-animal conflict (UK and USA), Tom Gilks: Managing Director and Head of Content at Nature Picture Library (UK), Ralph Pace: Underwater and environmental photojournalist (USA), Audun Rikardsen: Nature photographer and professor in biology, specializing in the Arctic regions (Norway), and Jaime Rojo: a Conservation photographer (Spain).

2025 Environmental Photography Award Grand Prize Winner

The Grand Prize Winner and overall 2025 Environmental Photography Award selected by the jury was presented to photographer Angel Fitor for the image Unseen Unsung Heroes, winner in the “Ocean Worlds” category.

“We environmental photographers have a simple yet colossal task: to translate the language of nature. The natural world is of course an endless source of beauty and fascination, but the mission of visual storytelling is going further in order to reveal the hidden threads that weave the complex and fragile relationships that bind our own existence to the planet,” Fitor says.

Fitor says his winning image “portrays the silent actions of humble creatures that nonetheless have a pivotal influence on the entire Mediterranean marine ecosystem — an ecosystem upon which we, in turn, depend.”

Jury and public voters alike were impressed with Fitor’s portfolio. In addition to the Grand Prize, Angel Fitor also won in the Change Makers: Reasons for Hope category with the image Training Day, showcasing a baby loggerhead sea turtle in a recovery center in Spain. Two more of his images were shortlisted in the Ocean Wolds category: Night Stalker (White-spotted octopus, Spain, 2024) and Beauty Languages (Mediterranean ‘fried egg’ jellyfish, Spain, 2024).

A Collection of Powerful Nature Photography

The 2025 Environmental Photography Award winners and shortlisted gallery is a curated gathering of contemporaries from around the world for a glimpse through the lens at some of the most powerful nature photography in one collection.

“In the past fifty years, we have lost 73% of the world’s wildlife. This stark reality underscores the urgent biodiversity crisis we face. The future of our planet is in our hands, and we cannot afford to feel overwhelmed or hope that someone else will address the problem. Continuous awareness and action are needed; conservation is not a one-day job,” says President of the Jury, Ami Vitale.

“Photography plays a critical role in highlighting the interconnectedness of individual well-being and environmental health. Images prompt conversation and consideration of how we can protect and value these irreplaceable environments across the planet. They cut through apathy, capture reality, evoke empathy, and ignite action. Through this visual medium, we reconnect people with nature, highlighting not only the perils but also the promise and the hope that exists all around us,” Vitale continues. “My hope is that these images and stories motivate more of us to transition from passive observation to active advocacy for our planet.”

Image credits: All photos individually credited and provided courtesy of The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Environmental Photographer of the Year Awards 2025.