The 16th Epson International Pano Awards have unveiled this year’s winners, showcasing the world’s best panoramic photography—from fiery desert skies to frozen mountain ranges and vast northern lights.
The grand prize
Italian photographer Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) was named Open Photographer of the Year 2025, also winning the Nature/Landscape category for his entries Last Fireworks, Jackpot, and Mann.
In Last Fireworks, captured in a desert at sunset, the sky ignites in layers of red and gold. Wides used a Sony A7 IV with a fisheye lens at f/8, ISO 100, rotating carefully around the nodal point to build a seamless 360-degree panorama.
His image Jackpot, shot on Senja Island, Norway, records a rare half hour of intense aurora after days of poor weather. “I opened the tent and the sky exploded in Northern Lights,” he said. “That moment felt like winning the jackpot.”
Mann, taken in Italy’s Dolomites, shows the quiet glow of moonlight over snow at –15 °C. Using a Sony A6600 and fisheye lens at 10 mm, f/5.6, ISO 1250, Wides built a 270-degree panorama through freezing winds.
Digital art and special prizes
The Epson Digital Art Prize 2025 went to Daniel Viñé from Spain for his poetic image of Vietnamese women repairing fishing nets. “These women are the unseen guardians of sustenance,” Viñé said. “The nets they mend are lifelines binding sea and community together.”
Viñé also won the RAW Planet Award for Cathedral of Shadows, photographed in Hanksville, Utah, a fleeting alignment of sunlight and rock.
Epson Australia managing director Craig Heckenberg praised this year’s entrants for their creativity and technical mastery. “It’s great to see more wide and ultra-wide panoramas this year—a format that our printers can truly bring to life,” he said.
Regional and curator awards
The Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year 2025 award went to William Chua from Singapore for his image of the wildebeest migration. “I noticed one wildebeest turning back amidst the chaos,” he said. “That instant told the whole story.”
The Curator’s Award was presented to Chris Byrne (USA) for Elysium, selected by David Evans, founder and curator of The Pano Awards.
Evans noted that this year’s submissions pushed boundaries with ultra-wide formats, experimental angles, and subjects ranging from fireflies and beetles to crystallized flower patterns captured under polarized light. “Photographers are venturing further than ever,” he said, citing new attention on Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Tibet alongside classics like Iceland and the Dolomites.
Amateur and VR/360 winners
The Amateur Photographer of the Year (Nature/Landscape) title went to Kevin Nyun of the United States for his Bolivian series The Altiplano Landscape, Frozen, and Remnants.
A global celebration of panoramic vision
Now in its 16th year, the Epson International Pano Awards remain the largest global competition dedicated to panoramic photography, supported by Epson Australia and Epson Southeast Asia. Entrants competed for cash and printing hardware prizes while celebrating the art of wide-format storytelling.
All winning and top-ranked images can be viewed at thepanoawards.com/2025-winners-gallery
