Earth’s Raw Beauty and Brutality Captured in 2025 Environmental Photography Award Winners
Each year, the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Award reminds us of the fragile balance between life, beauty, and destruction on Earth. The 2025 winners, announced on May 6, have once again delivered a powerful message through their lenses—highlighting the wonders of nature and the haunting impact of human activity.
Divided into five evocative categories—Polar Wonders, Into the Forest, Ocean Worlds, Humanity versus Nature, and Change Makers: Reasons for Hope—this year's competition also featured special awards including the Student’s Choice and Public Award. Let’s dive into the award-winning images and the stories they tell.
🐛 Grand Prize & Ocean Worlds Winner: “Unseen Unsung Heroes” by Angel Fitor
A quiet triumph beneath the waves, this mesmerizing shot of marine worms pushing plumes of sand from cone-shaped burrows off the coast of Spain took home the overall grand prize. Photographer Angel Fitor spent two months and twenty grueling five-hour dives to capture this moment of ecological harmony. These tiny creatures maintain oxygen flow and nutrient circulation in the seabed—unseen stewards of marine ecosystems.
Unseen Unsung Heroes" by Angel Fitor – Overall Grand Prize & Ocean Worlds Category Winner (Photo Credit: Angel Fitor)
Runners-up:
- “The Passenger” by Pietro Formis — a baby octopus perches on a salp in the Philippines.
- “Portrait of a Leafy Seadragon” by Daniel Sly — a mythical-looking creature off the Australian coast.
❄️ Polar Wonders Winner: “Jellyfish and Iceberg” by Galice Hoarau
Shot in 2019 off Greenland, this surreal photo showcases a lion’s mane jellyfish drifting beside an iceberg. The radiant beauty of its tentacles against the icy backdrop is a quiet reminder of climate-sensitive ecosystems.
Jellyfish and Iceberg" by Galice Hoarau – Polar Wonders Category Winner (Photo Credit: Galice Hoarau)
Runners-up:
- “Ephemeral” by Michaël Arzur — a melting iceberg off Iceland.
- “Female Fight” by Miquel Angel Artús Illana — two musk oxen clash in Norway’s tundra.
🌳 Into the Forest Winner: “Clash of Kings” by Iacopo Nerozzi
In a burst of raw, natural drama, two male stag beetles lock mandibles mid-air in a fierce mating-season duel in Italy. Their struggle, though harmless, underscores the primal rituals that continue in ancient forests.
Clash of Kings" by Iacopo Nerozzi – Into the Forest Category Winner (Photo Credit: Iacopo Nerozzi)
Runners-up:
- “Coho Salmon in a Log Structure” by David Herasimtschuk — a look at spawning in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
- “God in the Shadows” by Santiago J. Monroy García — an Andean bear emerges from the Colombian jungle.
🐅 Humanity vs. Nature Winner: “Breeding Machine” by Amy Jones
Few images are as haunting as Salamas, a frail, elderly Indo-Chinese tiger who spent 20 years confined in a Thai breeding farm. Captured shortly after her rescue, the photo is a gut-wrenching portrayal of exploitation—and a glimpse of late-found freedom before her death just nine months later.
Breeding Machine" by Amy Jones – Humanity Versus Nature Category Winner (Photo Credit: Amy Jones)
Runners-up:
- “Camouflaged in the Garbage Dump” by Lakshitha Karunarathna — an elephant wades through plastic in Sri Lanka.
- “No Air in the Pit” by Javier Aznar — rattlesnakes trapped in a pit as children peer in from above.
🐢 Change Makers Winner: “Training Day” by Angel Fitor
Fitor returns as a double winner with his hopeful image of a baby loggerhead sea turtle in a Spanish recovery center. Proof that amidst despair, rehabilitation and renewal are possible.
"Training Day" by Angel Fitor – Change Makers: Reasons for Hope Category Winner (Photo Credit: Angel Fitor)
Runners-up:
- “Caring for the Unseen Giants” and “Little Giant’s Walk” by Fernando Faciole — intimate glimpses of rehabilitated armadillos and anteaters.
- Public Award: “After the Flames, Hope” by Faciole — a tapir recovers from burn injuries in Brazil.
- Student's Choice: “Forest Guard” by Bambang Wirawan — a Sumatran tiger peers through the ribcage of its prey in a chilling yet captivating frame.
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| Award-Winning "Forest Guard" by Bambang Wirawan – Student's Choice Winner (Photo Credit: Bambang Wirawan) |
📸 Photography as a Catalyst for Change
"These images cut through apathy... they evoke empathy and ignite action," said jury president and National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale. The winning photographs do more than just awe—they inform, provoke, and inspire. They are a wake-up call and a tribute to resilience.
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