Winners revealed in the EPSON International Pano Awards

1 November 2016

Winners, both professional and amateur, have recently been announced for The EPSON International Pano Awards. This year the competition received 4545 entries from 1066 photographers in 60 countries. The seventh time this competition has been run, it is dedicated to the art and craft of panoramic photography. Advances in digital photography and editing software has resulted in a surge in the popularity of image stitching, especially in the panoramic format, but panoramic film photography also remains alive and well. 

This year, Alex Noriega (USA) was named overall winner of the 2016 Open competition for the image,Hibernation, Mount Rainier, Washington.

'Hibernation', Mount Rainier, Washington. © Alex Noriega.

The runner-up in the 2016 Open competition was Xose Casal (Spain), with Submerged Church, Sau Lake, Barcelona, Spain.

‘Submerged Church’, Sau Lake, Barcelona, Spain. © Xose Casal.

Nicholas Roemmelt from Austria was the overall winner of the 2016 Amateur competition with Perfect Night, Tyrol, Austria. The shot, which reveals the Milky Way, was taken on a peak next to Roemmelt’s hometown in Tyrol. The lights from his city can be seen in the valley. Andreas Paehge (Germany) was named runner-up for his image, Colored 14, Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

‘Perfect Night’, Tyrol, Austria. © Nicholas Roemmelt.

‘Colored 14’, Gelsenkirchen, Germany. © Andreas Paehge.

Hougaard Malan from South Africa was named winner of the Carolyn Mitchum Award for Will to Live, Ruacana Falls, Namibia. Images entered for consideration must have been created predominantly ‘in camera’. The award honours the late wife of judge and patron, Jeff Mitchum.

‘Will to Live’, Ruacana Falls, Namibia. © Hougaard Malan.

The winner of the EPSON Digital Art Prize was Marsel van Oosten, from The Netherlands. This award aims to reward excellence in modern digital post-processing. His image, The Lone Taureg, was shot in Libya – Marsel van Oosten

‘The Lone Taureg’, Libya. © Marsel van Oosten.

An Australian, Rodney Trenchard, took out top honours in the newest category, the Curator’s Award, for his image The Cloud Piercer, which was captured at Lake Pukaki in New Zealand.

‘The Cloud Piercer’, Lake Pukaki, New Zealan. © Rodney Trenchard

Prizes for the 2016 contest included US$25,000 cash, an Epson SureColor P-7070 printer, an Epson Stylus Pro SP-4900 printer, and an Epson EB-1776W Ultra-Slim Projector. The judging panel comprised Jeff Mitchum, Erin Babnik, Alexandre Deschaumes, Rodney Lough Jr, Iurie Belegurschi, Stefan Hefele, Viral Padiya, Chris Collacott, Hillary Younger, Paul Marcellini Aaron Spence, Bill Bailey and Luc Villeneuve.