The Breathtaking Winners of the 2025 International Pano Awards

Oct 28, 2025

Matt Growcoot

A dramatic rocky landscape at sunset, with jagged cliffs and formations under a vibrant orange and purple sky. A lone person stands on a rock ledge, admiring the vast, rugged terrain. — ‘Last Fireworks’ by Alex Wides. ‘As 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 captured a full multi-exposure sequence at f/8 and ISO 100, rotating carefully around the nodal point to create a seamless 360° panorama.’

The winners of the 2025 and 16th Epson International Pano awards have been announced, and Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) has been crowned the 2025 Open Photographer of the Year, as well as heading the Nature/Landscape category.

Wides is an Italian fine-art landscape photographer known worldwide for his pioneering work in extreme panoramic landscapes. Through years of experimentation and fieldwork, he developed a unique panoramic technique capable of merging multiple perspectives into a single immersive vision.

A vibrant green aurora borealis lights up the night sky over a rugged mountain landscape with winding rivers, rocky terrain, and distant lakes under a star-filled sky. — ‘Jackpot’ by Alex Wides. ‘After finishing tours on Senja Island, [Norway], I hiked up to the shoot location hoping for a good weather window. When I opened the tent on the last try, I hit the jackpot: the sky exploded in a spectacular half hour of Northern Lights. This was a perfect reward after years of waiting.’

Snow-covered mountain peaks under a starry night sky, with distant towns glowing in the valley below and a bright light atop one peak. Wispy clouds and moonlight illuminate the scene. — ‘Mann’ by Alex Wides. ‘For years I’ve been fascinated by the way lunar light reveals every texture of the snow, every pattern shaped by the wind. To bring this vision to life, I worked through the night at -15°C, using a Sony A6600 with a fisheye lens at 10mm, f/5.6, 10 seconds, ISO 1250, building a 270° panorama in the freezing wind.’

Entrants competed for thousands of dollars in cash and hardware prizes from main sponsors Epson Australia and Epson Southeast Asia. Other key awards include the Epson Digital Art Prize, which is decided by the executive team at Epson Australia from the top 50 entries in the Open competition. The winner was Daniel Viñé from Spain.

Three people wearing conical hats and colorful clothing sit on blue fishing nets, sorting or weaving, viewed from above, with light streaming through the nets, creating a visually striking pattern. — The winner of The Epson Digital Art Prize 2025. Daniel Viñé. ‘In this coastal village of Vietnam, survival is woven in silence. These women, working in morning shade and salt-laden air, are the unseen guardians of sustenance. The nets they mend are not mere tools, but lifelines binding sea and community together.’

A panoramic view of a rugged desert landscape at sunrise, featuring dramatic ridges, deep shadows, and a central flat-topped mesa under a partly cloudy sky. — Dniel Viñé also won the RAW Planet Award for this image, ‘Cathedral of Shadows, Hanksville, Utah’. He says: ‘Witnessing a fleeting alignment of light and form revealing the sun blazing on one side, the vast shadow stretching on the other, and the raw, timeless silence of Utah in between.’

A press release notes that this year there was a prevalence of ultra-wide panoramas and increasingly innovative perspectives, including very low angles, very close-up subjects, and aerial photography. There were also far more shots of the Northern Lights than usual, coinciding with the 11-year solar cycle maximum.

A large herd of wildebeest rushes through a river, splashing water as they migrate. The scene is dense with animals, and a cloud of dust fills the air. The image is in black and white. — The Pano Awards Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year 2025 won by William Chua from Singapore. ‘I have witnessed the wildebeest migration countless times and it never ceases to amaze me. For this image, what caught my attention was a lone wildebeest turning back amidst the frenzy. In that instant, I knew that was the shot I wanted.’

The Amateur Photographer of the Year, and first place in the Nature/Landscape category went to Kevin Nyun, USA, for his entries entitled The Altiplano Landscape, Frozen and Remnants.

A dramatic landscape showing red-orange desert hills, a dark central hill, distant snowy mountains, and a blue-white lake under a partly cloudy sky. — ‘The Altiplano Landscape shot in the Bolivia highland’ by Kevin Nyun.

Snow-covered mountain and forest at sunset, with vibrant pink, orange, and purple clouds in the sky and the sun low on the horizon, casting a warm glow over the wintry landscape. — ‘Frozen’ by Kevin Nyun.

A dramatic landscape of a vast, red desert with scattered dark rocky hills, tire tracks, and distant mountains under a dynamic, cloudy sky with patches of sunlight illuminating the terrain. — ‘Remnants’ by Kevin Nyun.

A wide, rocky landscape under a night sky filled with bright green and red aurora borealis lights, with mountains in the distance and steam rising from the ground. — The VR/360 winner is Christoph Simon from Germany for his panorama taken on a freezing March night in the high-temperature region of Hverarönd in northern Iceland.

A vibrant field of purple wildflowers and lush greenery stretches toward a sunlit mountain, with pine trees framing the scene and a dramatic sky at sunrise or sunset. — Curator of The Pano Awards is David Evans and the Curator’s Award went to Chris Byrne from the USA for ‘ELYSIUM.’

“The Pano Awards entries are always exceptional and this year the creativity has truly been taken to the next level,” says Epson Australia MD, Craig Heckenberg. “It’s great to see so many more wide and ultra-wide panoramic shots this year, a format close to our hearts, as they are able to be truly and properly represented by Epson wide-format photo printers.”

To view all the winning and top image galleries, go to the 2025 winners’ gallery.