The winners of the prestigious LensCulture Street Photography Awards 2025 have been unveiled, showcasing a breathtaking collection of images captured on the streets of 23 different countries. From aerial views of mass pilgrimages to intimate portraits of urban life, this year's contest highlights the diverse and powerful narratives found in public spaces around the globe.
Series Winners: Intimate Stories of People and Place
The top prize for a series was awarded to Jozef Macak for his work titled Tides of Life. This powerful collection documents life along the Buriganga River in Bangladesh, a vital waterway in Dhaka now strained by urban growth. Macak's photographs capture the complex relationship between the community and the river, illustrating how it simultaneously sustains and challenges those who live on its banks.
Second place in the series category went to David Masoko for Dislocated Presences. This project explores the subtle traces of human activity in major cities worldwide, presenting fragmented scenes that evoke the anonymity of modern urban and digital existence. The images, which balance accident and composition, are designed to be viewed as complementary pairs.
Chervine Dalaeli secured third place with Silent Motion, Vibrant Stillness. This series investigates the dynamic equilibrium between movement and pause in the city, contrasting bursts of colour with moments of quiet reflection to portray the urban landscape as a living canvas.
Single Image Winners: Moments of Devotion and Stillness
In the single image category, Sanghamitra Sarkar took first place with Wari. This stunning aerial photograph captures thousands of devotees, known as Warkaris, forming a perfect circle during the annual Wari pilgrimage in Maharashtra, India. The image, dominated by white traditional attire, powerfully conveys the discipline, unity, and deep spiritual harmony of the centuries-old tradition.
The second-place single image, The Pause Before Light by Tittu Shaji Thomas, was taken on a cold morning by the Yamuna River in Delhi. It frames a still, shawl-wrapped man alongside a tense stray dog, with birds erupting into the dawn sky, creating a poignant contrast between movement and stillness.
Bartosz Michalik won third place for Mirror, captured at the National Gallery in London. The photograph shows a visitor in an open-back dress sketching, her posture unconsciously echoing the turned back of the subject in Susanna at Her Bath, forging a silent dialogue across centuries between observer and artwork.
Juror Picks: A Global Snapshot of Street Life
The judges also selected several standout entries for special recognition. These include Luca Paccusse's amusing shot Doggy Bag, featuring a tourist's dog peeking from a purse near Rome's Colosseum, and Jan Janssen's series Identity, which documents the traditional New Year's Eve Bear Dance in Romanian towns, where participants don real bear skins.
Other notable juror picks feature Rodrigo Koraicho's long-term study of Miami Beach, Kebs Cayabyab's playful Synchronicities series finding whimsy in everyday alignments, and Étienne Perrone's night photography series Dreams Happen After Dark, which uses in-camera techniques to colour empty urban scenes.
The awards, announced on Thursday 18 December 2025, demonstrate the continued vitality and creative innovation within the genre of street photography, offering a unique window into cultures, traditions, and human experiences worldwide.
