Epson announces winners of 2025 Epson International Pano Awards

Credit : Allessandro Cantarelli, The 16th Epson International Pano Awards - https://thepanoawards.com
The winners of the 2025 Epson International Pano Awards, now in their 16th year, have been announced. Amongst an abundance of ultra-wide panoramas, the overall winner of the 2025 Open Photographer of the Year and the Nature/Landscape category is Alessandro Cantarelli from Italy, for his entries: Last Fireworks, Jackpot, and Mann.

Cantarelli is an Italian fine-art landscape photographer known for his pioneering work in extreme panoramic landscapes. Through years of experimentation and fieldwork, he developed a unique panoramic technique that merges multiple perspectives into a single, immersive vision. Describing Last Fireworks, Cantarelli said, “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-degree panorama.”
About Jackpot, Cantarelli says, “After finishing tours on Senja Island, 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.

Describing Mann, a 270-degree panorama captured in the Italian Dolomites, Cantarelli says, “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 degrees C, using a Sony A6600 with a fisheye lens at 10mm, f/5.6, 10 seconds, ISO 1250, building a 270-degree panorama in the freezing wind.”
The Epson International Pano Awards has grown, and is described as the largest global competition for panoramic photography by Epson, showcasing the work of panoramic photographers worldwide.
Entrants competed for thousands of dollars in cash and hardware prizes from main sponsors Epson Australia and Epson Southeast Asia.

Additional prizes include the Epson Digital Art Prize, which is judged by the executive team at Epson Australia from the top 50 entries in the Open competition. In addition to their creativity, entries in this category must demonstrate excellence in digital post-processing as well as exceptional photographic technique.
The winner of The Epson Digital Art Prize 2025 was Daniel Viñé from Spain, who commented on his image saying, “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.”
 
Epson Australia MD, Craig Heckenberg, added, “The Pano Awards entries are always exceptional and this year the creativity has been taken to the next level. 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. The Pano awards entrants are an inspiration for all photographers of all skill levels. At Epson, we pride ourselves on embodying innovation and creativity, hence why we continue to support and sponsor these unique awards.”

Viñé also won the RAW Planet Award for Cathedral of Shadows, Hanksville, Utah, which he describes as, “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.”
In addition to the ultra-wide panoramas in the entries, there were also increasingly innovative perspectives, such as very low angles, very close-up subjects, capturing movement, and, of course, aerial photography, in the pool of entries and finalists.

Including some interesting and unusual subjects, such as abstract flower patterns captured by polarised light after hydrolysis and crystallisation, and intimate nature vignettes, including snails, a beetle, and fireflies.
There were also many more shots of the Northern and Southern Lights than usual, coinciding with the 11-year solar cycle maximum in 2025.

Southeast Asia was also well represented, following the addition of Epson Singapore as a joint major sponsor in 2024, with the award for The Pano Awards Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year 2025 going to William Chua from Singapore.

Chua said, “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, First Place, Nature/Landscape category, went to Kevin Nyun, USA, for his entries entitled "The Altiplano Landscape," "Frozen," and "Remnants."

Kevin  Nyun - United States The Altiplano Landscape

The VR/360 winner was Christoph Simon from Germany for his panorama taken on a freezing March night in the high-temperature region of Hverarönd in northern Iceland (full immersive image is viewable on thepanoawards.com)

Christoph - Simon - DE 

The curator of The Pano Awards is David Evans, and the Curator's Award went to Chris Byrne from the USA for ELYSIUM.
David Evans said, “Each year, the boundaries of panoramic photography are pushed further, and 2025 has proven no exception. This year’s collection reveals an extraordinary number of ultra-wide panoramas — sweeping, immersive works that transport viewers deep into the landscapes that inspired them.
Meanwhile, photographers continue to venture far and wide, uncovering both ‘hot’ rising locations, such as Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Tibet, and revisiting beloved destinations like Iceland, the Dolomites, Argentina, and the Lofoten Islands.

Following the strong participation from Southeast Asia and the continued support of Epson Singapore alongside Epson Australia, the global reach of the awards has never been stronger. The diversity, creativity and technical excellence on display reaffirm the panoramic format as one of the most powerful storytelling mediums in contemporary photography.”

The judging panel for the Epson International Pano Awards includes many of the world's top panoramic photographers and industry professionals.

To view all the winning and top image galleries, go to: https://thepanoawards.com/2025-winners-gallery

Daniel - Viñé Garcia - Spain

Daniel - Viñé Garcia - Spain - Cathedral of Shadows, Hanksville, Utah

William - Chua - SG