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Arnaud Farré - Up is Down - Runner-up Ocean category and Student's Choice 2026
On June 21st we discussed a beautiful photograph, winner of the Grand Prize in the 2026 edition of the Environmental Photography Award, organized by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. Every time one of these images triumphs, I ask myself which ones fell short. Which failed to stand out, which came so close to unseating it. Here are the ones that came closest.
The Foundation selected 36 photographs and granted seven distinctions. Beyond the Grand Prize, it recognized six other images in the categories Forests, Humanity vs Nature, Ocean, Polar Regions, Public Award, and Student Choice Award.
Arnaud Farré - Spirits of the Falls - Forests category winner
The contest's five main categories were 'Changemakers', 'Forests', 'Humanity vs Nature', 'Ocean', and 'Polar Regions'. Each winning entry received a prize of 1,000 euros. The Grand Prize was chosen among those five images and carried an additional endowment of 5,000 euros. The Public Award and the Student Choice Award each came with a 500-euro grant.
The winning work in the 'Forests' category was Spirits of the Falls, by photographer Arnaud Farré, who also received the Student Choice Award for Up is Down, becoming one of the doubly recognized authors of this edition.
Fernando Faciole - Born for the Ocean, Fated to the Flames - Humanity vs Nature category winner
In the 'Humanity vs Nature' category, the prize went to Fernando Faciole for Born for the Ocean, Fated to the Flames. The work belongs to a section of the contest devoted to examining the conflicts arising from the relationship between human activity and ecosystems.
Henley Spiers - Shearwater’s Dilemma - Ocean category winner
The winner of the 'Ocean' category was Henley Spiers with Shearwater's Dilemma. The category brings together works tied to the seas, marine biodiversity, and the pressures bearing on these spaces.
Vadim Makhorov - The Gathering - Polar regions category winner
In 'Polar Regions', the distinction went to The Gathering, by Vadim Makhorov. The section gathers images taken in polar territories, regions especially exposed to today's environmental transformations.
Doug Gimesy - Koalas are Dying for You to Slow Down - Public Award 2026
The Public Award went to Doug Gimesy for Koalas are Dying for You to Slow Down. Beyond the 500-euro grant tied to this distinction, the International University SEK, a longstanding partner of the contest, offered the winner the chance to visit its research station in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This was a photograph I particularly loved.
Jasper Doest
When we first came across Tim Harrier’s Shaman Spirit Guides, we dismissed them without mercy as the product of artificial intelligence. The mud-covered faces, the animals emerging from the background, and an unbroken frontal force produced, almost at once, a malignant suspicion. Suspicion ran far ahead of the work. And we are right to suspect almost everything in life. This series, no...
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