‘Simply stellar’: Mt Taranaki image wows International Landscape Photographer of the Year judges

Lukas Trixl won the International Landscape Photographer of the Year with a photo of Mt Taranaki. Photo / Lukas Trixl

A beautiful atmospheric image of Mt Taranaki has won the single best picture in the International Landscape Photographer of the Year award announced in Sydney.

Photographer Lukas Trixl of Austria was up against stiff competition from 3600 other photographers from all over the world to take the prize.

The timeless scene shows the majestic mountain under a bruised sky tinged with hopeful hues of orange, a flight of unknown birds scudding across the view of a steamy lake lined by silent, brooding ponga.

Trixl took the acclaimed photo while on a road trip through New Zealand in 2024 and was grateful - and also a little bit proud - for the award as a first-timer in the competition.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey,” Trixl said on social media.

“This award is a huge motivation boost, and it inspires me to keep pushing myself, growing, and creating work that I’m proud of.”

The competition, now in its 12th year, is recognised as one of the most respected international contests assessing the work of professional and amateur photographers.

A prize pool of US$12,500 ($20,900) cash is shared among successful entrants finishing in the top three for individual photos, portfolios and for five special subject awards.

The margins between a winning image and those who miss out are so fine that the ILPOTY includes the next 90 entries in an awards book, with those included scoring over 86.6%, according to chairman of judges Peter Eastway.

“I feel I have seen a noticeable lift in the level of work submitted,” Eastway said. “Not just the Top 101, but the top 501. The work has been simply stellar.”

Eastway recognises that taking a single prize-winning image is challenging, creating four of them is more challenging still.

The overall photographer of the year award was claimed this year by American J. Fritz Rumpf with a stunning collection of photographs themed around a wintery landscape.

Judges for the competition are top-flight photographers and editors from across the globe: David Burnett, co-founder of Contact Press Images; Tim Parkin, editor of On Landscape magazine; Andrew Mielzynski, ILPOTY 2024 winner; Kaye Davis, NZIPP Grand Master of photography; and Jim M. Goldstein, fine art photographer and author.

“When you look at the photographs in this book, ask yourself if your landscape photographs are really good enough to sit alongside?,” Eastway says in the foreword to the book.

“The Top 101 landscape photographs in this book are better in one way or another: better technically, better aesthetically, or of a more exciting subject, location or event. Perhaps they are better in several ways - if I knew the ingredient that makes that difference, I’d be a very smart person!”

To see all the winners and for information on how to buy the book https://internationallandscapephotographer.com