2026 Siena Drone Photo Awards Reveal 20 Of The Year's Most Impressive Aerial Shots

Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category

Description: “A family of three from Baffin Island, Canada, polar bears, cold winds from snow and ice, their mother playing on the snow with their two newborn cubs who are just three months old, learning life skills while playing, climbing mountains and uphill, and their mother guiding the little bear every step.”

Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category

Description: “Photographed near the remote outback town of Kununurra in Western Australia, this overhead drone image shows a young bull shark swimming through submerged aquatic vegetation in the Ord River.”

Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category

Description: “A polar bear, on the prowl for his next prey, was swimming in-between the shards of ice near a remote, calving glacier front. The polar bear paused every now and then. He floated around while scanning the area and sniffing to find food in-between the glacial slush ice.”

Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category

Description: “In the Arctic pack ice North of Svalbard in summer 2025, I noticed a polar bear fast asleep, nestled in a crack near a beautiful piece of blue ice. I made sure to stay high enough not to interrupt its sleep. I captured the moment and retreated, leaving behind a happily sleeping bear.”

2nd Place in the Nature Category

Description: “After an overnight storm in Kyrgyzstan, fresh snow clings to the surrounding mountains while forgotten river channels wind through the golden valley, revealing the quiet scale and beauty of this remote landscape.”

Highly Commended in the Urban Category

Description: “Between glass facades that embrace the sky, the Liberation Tower stands as a symbol of power and modernity. Below, a small group of workers clings to the tower's façade, a silent reminder that humanity, almost imperceptible in comparison to these massive structures, is what gives them life and meaning.”

Honorable Mention in the Wedding Category

Description: “A couple walks along a rare salt path in the Dead Sea, revealed as the water level drops. The path does not always exist, turning a changing landscape into a natural aisle and a brief, unusual wedding moment surrounded by water and salt, in the lowest place on Earth.”

Highly Commended in the Wildlife Category

Description: “A large saltwater crocodile slithers in the wetlands of the Mary River floodplains. Seen from above, the crocodile’s powerful form carves an elegant, almost serpentine path through the exposed mud flats.”

Honorable Mention in the Wildlife Category

Description: “This is a mother and calf bottlenose dolphin. The way the calf’s shadow falls on the mother’s womb where it once resided touches my heart strings and represents the forever place in a parent’s heart, all while constantly keeping an eye on the little one guiding it with her pectoral fin.”

Honorable Mention in the Nature Category

Description: “The Seasonal Migration: Every year, these camels embark on a rhythmic journey across the vast desert, chasing the scent of rain and the blooming of spring. It is a timeless migration that dictates the pace of life in the heart of the peninsula.”

1st Place in the Urban Category

Description: “In early May, as summer approached, a massive dust storm swept toward Mubarak Al-Kabeer in Kuwait. The sky turned orange and thick, swallowing the horizon and blanketing the area. Visibility vanished, and the stillness felt eerie, as if the world were fading away.”

Honorable Mention in the People Category

Photo of the Year

Description: “An old LNG carrier in the final stage of disassembly for scrap metal on the mudflats of the Bay of Bengal. Breaking a ship like this takes about a year, with a crew of 60 men using blowtorches and winches to drag the larger pieces ashore for cutting into smaller pieces.”

Highly Commended in the Wildlife Category

Description: “A small school of bluefish makes its way over a school of menhaden bait fish, which appear across the entire background. Menhaden are a keystone species on the northeastern coast of the United States and feed on plankton and algae, forming very tight schools to protect themselves.”

3rd Place in the Nature Category

Description: “The stunning Tumpak Sewu cascades like liquid silver from the cliffs, with the majestic Semeru Volcano rising in the distance, sending smoke into the sky as the landscape unfolds in all its natural glory.”

Honorable Mention in the People Category

Description: “A challenging struggle for survival at an altitude of 2500 meters. A journey with their animals to the high plateaus. As the weather warms up in the plains, people travel with their animals to the cooler, high pastures and meadows.”

2nd Place in the Urban Category

Description: “Mulmangol, a hillside settlement built by refugees in the aftermath of war, stands in contrast to the modern skyline rising beyond it. Here, in the same district of Busan, two vastly different eras of the city exist side by side. Seen from above at night, both landscapes share the same sky while revealing different stories.”

1st Place in the Wedding Category

Description: “The groom, a professional guitarist, wanted a special photo for their wedding. Captured from above, using an enormous veil and his collection of guitars, this image shows how music surrounds their life together and gives it even more meaning.”

Highly Commended in the Sport Category

Description: “A group of skiers transitions to uphill mode at the end of the glacier in Antarctica, showing the dangerous conditions for skiing on this remote continent, with hidden crevasses and sharp ledges.”

Highly Commended in the Sport Category

Description: “A lone surfer in red navigates the churning aftermath of a breaking Atlantic wave off São Miguel, Azores. The human figure becomes a single point of color against a vast field of foam and dark water.”