The UK’s longest running travel photography & video competition is back!
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£12,000 of cash prizes up for grabs, plus a prestigious commission and an unforgettable trip to Abu Dhabi
This year’s winners of the video and photo categories will jet off on an all expenses paid trip to Abu Dhabi in the UAE on an exciting commission for Wanderlust, with the latter getting to see their shots of the emirate published in the magazine and online. The winners’ trip will include two Business Class return flight tickets with Etihad Airways from London Heathrow or Manchester airport in the UK. Both the videography and photography winner will be hosted for five days and four nights in luxurious five-star accommodation, with all meals and attraction entry fees covered throughout the trip. It will be the perfect way to soak up all the surprising elements of adventure, nature, culture and the arts that Abu Dhabi has to offer.
While the winners head off to Abu Dhabi on a commission for Wanderlust, courtesy of our partner Experience Abu Dhabi, there are also £12,000 worth of cash prizes to be shared with those in first, second and third place.
1st
Both the overall photo category winner and the video category winner will win a commission for Wanderlust and an adventure of a lifetime to Abu Dhabi, plus £3,000 cash.2nd
The two second place winners will each be awarded with a £2,000 cash prize, and see their work published in Wanderlust print magazine and website.Â
3rd
Third place winners will be awarded with a £1,000 cash prize, and published in Wanderlust‘s print magazine and website.
Shortlist
The shortlisted photos and videos will be exhibited online and at major travel shows, including the Destinations Show. Your work will be viewed by hundreds of thousands of passionate travellers globally. Last year, more than 20,000 Wanderlust readers cast their vote to decide the winners.Photography
categories
Enter your best travel photos across one or more of the following five categories.
People
Whether your eye has been caught by saffron-robed monks, dancing carnival goers, local fishermen or someone waiting at a bus stop, trawl through the faces captured on your past travels to enter this category.
Wildlife
It might be an image of a majestic Bengal tiger or migrating wildebeest in the Serengeti – your wildlife archives could be the key to the commission of a lifetime.
Abu Dhabi
Dreamy deserts, admirable architecture, flavour-filled food, unexpected nature and so much more await in Abu Dhabi. We want to see your best shots of this timeless emirate.
Culture
From cliff-hugging monasteries and architectural feats to historic streets and iconic eats, there’s so much that can tell the story of a country’s culture. (Please make sure that you enter any pictures of people into the People category and not Culture.)
Landscape
Arid deserts, majestic glaciers, mist-swirled podocarp rainforests and heavenly horizons all set the tone for this category.
Video
category
Video was introduced as its own category in last year’s competition. After a great success, this year it’s making a return, with a fresh new theme:
Hidden travel surprises
The theme for this year’s video category is ‘Hidden Travel Surprises’. To enter, please submit a video – no shorter than 30 seconds, no longer than two minutes – that tells the story of a destination you have visited that has surprised you. You may have snippets of a well-known country’s little-known side or of a completely off-the-beaten-track location that hardly any visitors have been to. Or perhaps you will decide to use your footage to change the perception of a place, proving that it has much more to offer than that which first meets the eye. Feel free to get creative with it, but remember: we want to be surprised!
Last year’s
winners
Be inspired by these incredible winning entries from over the years. View the shortlist here
A Mountain Film by Daniel Chong
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About
Visions
Having first started 28 years ago, Visions (formerly Travel Photo of the Year) is the longest-running travel photography competition of its kind in the UK. Now it’s back – and bigger than ever!
Last year, the competition was opened to videographers for the first time, and the entries received were breathtaking! Growing again for this year, Wanderlust has now introduced a standalone video category with the theme: Hidden Travel Surprises.Â
Not only does the competition give entrants the chance to win life-affirming adventures in countries across the world, there’s also a chance to win a commission for Wanderlust magazine, in both print and online, where the photos and videos will be viewed by the hundreds of thousands of people that make up the Wanderlust audience. Previous winners have jetted off to Texas, Singapore and Türkiye, and now have the chance to go to Abu Dhabi in 2026.Â
How to submit
Submissions close in September 2025. Wanderlust’s team of editorial experts will shortlist the best entries in each category. From January 2026, Wanderlust’s audience will then vote for their favourite, with the best photo and best video winners being announced in 2026.
Photography
File size
Maximum file size of 10MB per image.
Accepted formats
JPG and PNG
Resolution
Minimum 3508px width/height
Orientation
This is entirely up to you
Caption
Each photo to include a caption up to 50 words
Video
Length
Minimum 30 secs, maximum 2 mins
Accepted formats
MP4, MOV
Resolution
HD (1080p)
Orientation
16:9 landscape unless portrait is part of the creative vision.
Audio
Any music used must be royalty free
Caption
Each video to include a caption up to 50 words
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