Entries are now open for Photographer of the Year 2025

Photographer of the Year not only celebrates the craft itself, but also the moments that make our society and environment unique. Now is your chance to contribute your best work and join this remarkable showcase of photography and culture.  

The winners will be announced at an awards night in Auckland in October and there will be an exhibition in Britomart, Auckland and across the country on Lumo’s digital billboards. There is $8,000 cash up for grabs, $6,500 worth of camera gear from Nikon, and a voyage from Heritage Expeditions worth $16,500! 

The Nikon Photographer of the Year will be picked from all entrants, as will the Resene Colour Award, the Genesis Young Photographer of the Year and Senior Photographer of the Year. Categories include Resene Landscape, Resene Built Environment, Heritage Expeditions Wildlife, MOTAT Aerial, Simplicity Portrait, Society, Adventure and Photostory. There is also a new Astrophotography category, sponsored by Stardome. 

To enter Photographer of the Year 2025 and for more information and a full list of terms and conditions, click here!  

Here is a glimpse of some of the winners from last year: 

Ryan Domenico won the 2024 Resene Colour Award for this captivating shot. The aurora australis forecast predicted an incredible display of the southern lights, so Ryan and a couple of friends decided to head to the highest point in the area: the summit of Single Cone, in The Remarkables. “It turned out to be the largest solar storm in over a decade and a night in the mountains we will never forget,” he says. 

Richard Young’s winning image in the Resene Landscape category is truly entrancing. In autumn, the leaves on the poplars in Wānaka turn bright yellow. Richard had been documenting this spot every autumn since 2017, and in this image, he frames the background trunks with the leaves of another tree in the foreground. “This photograph has come from knowing these trees and developing my expression of them,” he says. 

Alex McVinnie-Maidment’s winning photograph in the Resene Built Environment category could be an art gallery façade; instead, it’s a water treatment plant and storage facility supplying water to the city of Hastings. Alex arrived early in the morning to photograph one of the storage tanks at Waiaroha/Heretaunga Water Discovery Centre. Just as he had composed the image, a flock of birds flew into the frame.