Siena International Photo Awards 2022 Winners Released—Featuring Fire, Faces, and Photographer of the Year

(Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

We can fully appreciate the anguished expression crossing the face of this 81-year-old Greek woman, Kritsiopi Panayiota, who stands grief-stricken before a hellish backdrop of forest fires on the verge of consuming her home. As the devastating infernos of California’s wildfires in 2020 continue to haunt recent American memory, Grecians recall the worst fires their country has seen since 2007, which ravaged Evia, Greece’s second largest island, in August 2021.

Tragic yet pertinent, this picture, “Woman from Evia,” garnered Greek photographer Konstantinos Tsakalidis the top title of Photographer of the Year at the Siena International Photo Awards 2022 (SIPA 2022) in October.

Tsakalidis’s arresting portrayal of humanity and nature was selected from tens of thousands of submissions from 140 countries. Accompanying it are the other winners of the competition’s 12 different categories; SIPA 2022’s Creative Photo Awards and Drone Photo Awards; as well as solo exhibitions featuring photographers: Danish Siddiqui (killed on July 16, 2021, while documenting conflict in Afghanistan), Ami Vitale, Dan Winters, and Peter Mather.

Winner: Photographer of the Year

(Konstantinos Tsakalidis/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Fascinating Faces and Characters

(Dan Winters/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Another striking picture portrays “Angelina Jolie and Bees,” which was taken by Dan Winters, winner of the Fascinating Faces and Characters category. On the occasion of World Bee Day, an initiative saw the actress sprinkled with a queen bee’s pheromone, attracting a swarm of the buzzing yellow-and-black bugs to climb aboard her body. Jolie remained motionless for 18 minutes for the photography session and was not stung in the process, a SIPA 2022 press release stated.

The prize for the Animals in Their Environment category was claimed by Israeli photographer Amos Nachoum whose entry, “Mother Tender Love,” features a polar bear mother and her cub swimming underwater. Captured from below, the adorable baby bear is seen tucked protectively under the mom’s tummy. Nachoum dedicated his image to the protection of that arctic species.

Winner: Animals in Their Environment

(Amos Nachoum/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Storytelling

(Peter Mather/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

A fox overlooks a northern Canadian town at night in a wintry shot by Peter Mather, winner of the Storytelling category. This animal was among a number of foxes that Mather discovered living in a den in an abandoned building in the Canadian north. His project, “Urban and Wild,” documented a thriving fox population in Whitehorse, where the species has no option except to adapt and coexist with humans.

These and many more SIPA 2022 winners will be displayed in Siena from Oct. 1 to Nov. 20. If you can’t make it to beautiful Italy this time, fear not! We are pleased to bring the winners of this year’s Siena International Photo Awards 2022 directly to you.

Winner: Street Photography

(Michael Kowalczyk/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Street Photography

(Barry Talis/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Journey & Adventures

(Rahat Bin Mustafiz/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Journey & Adventures

(Morten Gåsvand/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Fascinating Faces and Characters

(Ahmed El Hanjoul/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Beauty of Nature

(Nadine Galandi/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Animals in Their Environment

(Ingo Arndt/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Architecture & Urban Spaces

(Muhammad Almasri/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Architecture & Urban Spaces

(Ibrahim Nabeel Salah/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Sports in Action

(Jonne Roriz/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Sports in Action

(Ian Macnicol/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Documentary & Photojournalism

(Fabrizio Maffei/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Documentary & Photojournalism

(Ohad Zwigenberg/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Under 20

(Raffael Gunawan/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Winner: Underwater Life

(Francisco Javier Murcia Requena/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

Runner Up: Underwater Life

(Nick Polanszky/Siena International Photo Awards 2022)

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