See the Spectacular Winners of Smithsonian Magazine’s 23rd Annual Photography Contest

This year’s best photos command attention by capturing intimate moments and bold colors

Tracy Scott Forson | Senior Editor

April/May 2026

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Like rebellious bandmates onstage, the three chicks featured in the grand-prize-winning image of the 23rd annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest are “full of attitude, energy and individuality,” says photographer Jacqueline Burke, who playfully titled her entry “The Punk Rockers.” Their unruly, spiked plumage gives the unmistakable look of tiny mohawks, she says. 

Photographed at a New Jersey rookery, or breeding ground, the egret chicks, playing and fighting with one another, stood out among hundreds of birds. “Their little necks and heads were writhing,” Burke says. “One would peck. The other would peck back.”

Although the small birds have a huge presence, their parent looms large in the background. “The photographer framed it beautifully,” says Smithsonian creative director Maria Keehan. “The scale jump between the long legs and gnarly, imposing feet compared to the fluffy heads below is remarkable.”

Like the grand prize photo, the other six winners of this year’s contest, which received more than 17,000 submissions from 108 countries, invite a closer look. A barefoot devotee boldly expressing herself during a holy ritual; a teenager captured in a symbolic moment between youth and adulthood; and a rare encounter with a colorful creature are some of the scenes that earned the top prizes.

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Grand Prize Winner: Jacqueline Burke
 

Burke, a 64-year-old veterinarian, observed the recently hatched egrets, each no larger than a golf ball when curled up, underneath a ramp at the Ocean City welcome center in New Jersey, where she was visiting from her home in Perkiomenville, Pennsylvania. “They were squabbling nonstop,” she says. She estimates that there were 50 to 70 nests that day at the rookery, where native and migratory birds choose to breed. It is such a popular destination for birds and birders alike that the state’s Audubon Society hosts events there. Burke’s interest in animals led her to take up photography in 2014. That’s when she traded in bird-watching binoculars for a camera. “We need to save species like this and save moments like this,” she says.

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Artistic: Irina Denisova

As part of a project organized by a local photo club, Denisova, 44, of Melbourne, was tasked with taking a picture of a woman wearing a cultural head covering. “As I worked on it, the idea shifted,” says Denisova, who decided to create something a bit more abstract. In her home studio, she used black fabric as a veil for her model. She added finishing touches in editing using Adobe Photoshop. “The white fractures cutting through the image hint at inner division, at the layers we are made of and at moments of awareness when that apparent wholeness begins to crack.” Denisova, who began her photography career almost ten years ago, appreciates the “complete calm and serenity” captured in the image. 

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Travel: Arun Kumar Nalimela

During the annual Hindu festival of Shivaratri, Nalimela, a 33-year-old resident of Telangana, India, watched as devotees lit oil lamps, or diyas, in an act of prayer. Seemingly moved by the moment, a woman stepped out among the illuminated rows. “Her bare feet speak louder than anything else,” Nalimela says. “You don’t always need a visible face. What truly matters is whether you can feel the essence of the scene, the devotion, the silence, the energy, everything that exists beyond the subject.” Nalimela took up photography, a hobby he inherited from his older brother, in 2013. He began capturing images of wildlife, but his focus has shifted. “When you photograph culture with true devotion, images reveal themselves as unplanned, unimagined, almost gifted. This photograph came to me in that way.”

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People: Willem Kuijpers

During the week leading up to Easter, Christians in many cities across the world take part in holy observances, but Kuijpers, 73, a retired photographer with more than 50 years of experience, says no place he’s seen commemorates the holiday like Sicily: “In Trapani, you find the most intense Holy Week processions, full of emotions.” During the Tuesday procession of the Madonna dei Massari, Kuijpers photographed men as they carried floats representing the stations of the cross. Supported by bars lifted onto the men's shoulders, the heavy floats, many with wooden statues, can weigh hundreds of pounds. "You can imagine that this becomes very intense and painful,” says Kuijpers, whose photograph represents “the intense efforts these carriers go through for their faith.” 

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American Experience: Christopher Scott Carpenter

At 14, DelShay Henio took part in a traditional Navajo Kinaaldá ceremony that welcomed her to womanhood. Carpenter, 32, a Salt Lake City native and a longtime friend of the family, was there to observe the four-day ritual of communal meals, chanting and all-night prayer. DelShay worked with horses on the family ranch and competed at rodeos throughout her childhood, so she incorporated her horse Hazel into the ceremony. As she led Hazel to graze, DelShay turned to face a slight breeze. “It’s a quiet, soft portrait of a young woman looking toward her future,” Carpenter says.

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Wildlife: Wiktoria West

A conservation photographer based in Johannesburg, West, 29, usually aims her camera at vulnerable species. She’s filmed African wild dogs for the Endangered Wildlife Trust and rhinoceroses for African Parks and We Wild Africa. “My work is now almost full-time conservation storytelling,” West says. Her winning image of a chameleon, photographed in the garden of a boarding school where she was documenting a herpetologist, was different from her other work, “a creative endeavor,” she says. “I just thought it was really, really beautiful.” 

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Drone: Yonglin Sun

Recognized for its award-winning architecture, the Oppo Chang An R&D Center is a circular sensation. Using a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone flying 500 feet above, Sun captured the ring structure that connects the curvaceous buildings of the campus, which occupies five city blocks. He describes the complex as a “miniature world” that includes educational buildings, residences and an 820-foot office tower. The bridge was still under construction when Sun took the photo; in the top right of the image, the pavement is still gray. Sun, a longtime freelance photographer, appreciates the juxtaposition of architectural structure and random human activity: “The movement of vehicles and people inside and around the ring weaves a dynamic thread of urban life within this geometric city space.” 

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Reader's Choice: Roberto Pazzi

Through his work as a travel photographer, Pazzi, a 52-year-old resident of Spain, seeks to chronicle peoples and customs. The Mundari ethnic group of South Sudan, known for its cattle-oriented culture, is one that captivates him. Adolescent members of the tribe are often the primary handlers of the animals, carrying out daily tasks. His photograph captures a typical moment at sunrise: a Mundari child cleaning a bull’s horns using a mixture of mud and water. “In capturing the essence of some of the world’s most remote communities, I pay tribute to the extraordinary beauty of human diversity,” he says.

Tracy Scott Forson | Read More

Tracy Scott Forson is a senior editor at Smithsonian magazine.