The wait is over – we reveal the winners of our prestigious Photographer of the Year awards for 2019.
Marco Tagliarino, who topped the adult Travel category for his 'Gambling in Jianshui' image, is Digital Camera's Photographer of the Year 2019. The collection of images he submitted for the competition demonstrated a "unique style" with a facility for "intimate" images.
For entrants under 24 years old, Heidi Cohen from London was crowned Young Photographer of the Year for submissions including her two category wins, for Urban Landscape and Black & White. Her "great eye" and strong portfolio came in for particular praise.
Digital Camera's annual photography competition is one of the most prestigious in the industry, and is hosted on leading photo competitions site Photocrowd (opens in new tab).
Photographer of the Year is sponsored by MPB.com (opens in new tab), and the winners receive a prize pot worth over £7,100 from MPB and our awards partners Rohan (opens in new tab), Sony (opens in new tab), Rotolight (opens in new tab) and CEWE (opens in new tab).
Young Photographer of the Year is sponsored by Affinity Photo (opens in new tab), and the winners receive a prize pot worth over £6,600 from Affinity Photo and our awards partners Rohan (opens in new tab), Sony (opens in new tab), Rotolight (opens in new tab) and CEWE (opens in new tab).
We were delighted to welcome Marco to Birmingham for the ceremony, having flown in specially from Milan in Italy.
“I’m really proud of this important award," he said. "This is certainly the biggest result I've achieved so far.
"I have been a runner-up in other prestigious competitions but never the overall winner and this gives me energy to improve myself again.”
Unfortunately Heidi was unable to join us for the ceremony – she's currently on an internship in Malaysia – but father Adam and sister Clara made the trip up from London on her behalf.
Speaking from the Malaysian rain forest, Heidi said: "It’s incredible that I was chosen. There were so many strong photos and great photographers in the competition that it’s a real honour to have achieved this award. It definitely makes me feel more confident in my abilities as a photographer.”
Gallery of Marco Tagliarino's winning images
As for the next stage in his photographic journey, Marco recently became a father so will put his exotic travel plans on hold whilst the baby is still small.
Saying that, however, he reveals that in 2019 he plans to visit Japan, New York, Turkey and hopefully make it to the far east next Christmas to continue his passion.
Gallery of Heidi Cohen's winning images
When we asked Heidi about the future and where her photography may take her next, she is yet to decide.
“My internship lasts for six months and for now I’m just trying out all different aspects of photography and filmmaking to get an idea as to what career I would like to pursue in the future,” she says.
Photographer of the Year 2019 category winners
- Urban landscape – Peter Stevens (opens in new tab)
- Wildlife – Ruben Perez Novo (opens in new tab)
- Portrait – Mohammadreza Rezania (opens in new tab)
- Street Seen – Tran Binh Minh (opens in new tab)
- Black & White – Inge Schuster (opens in new tab)
- Smartphone – Wai Phyo Aung (opens in new tab)
- Wild landscape – Erika Valkovicova (opens in new tab)
- Abstract – Stanislav Sitnikov (opens in new tab)
- Travel – Marco Tagliarino (opens in new tab)
- Water – Doug Richardson (opens in new tab)
Young Photographer of the Year 2019 category winners
- Urban Landscape – Heidi Cohen (opens in new tab)
- Wildlife – Kyle Moore (opens in new tab)
- Portrait – Corentin Hais (opens in new tab)
- Street Seen – Deric Samples (opens in new tab)
- Black & White – Heidi Cohen (opens in new tab)
- Smartphone – Maya J Mehlman (opens in new tab)
- Wild Landscape – Davide Beretta (opens in new tab)
- Abstract – Carol Hrubi (opens in new tab)
- Travel – Javad Rezaei (opens in new tab)
- Water – Sebastiano Pieri (opens in new tab)
Click here (opens in new tab)to view all the category winning entries for Photographer of the Year 2019 and Young Photographer of the Year 2019.
Photographer of the Year will return soon…
Keep an eye on Digital Camera World (opens in new tab) and Photocrowd (opens in new tab) for details of next year's competition. We will be releasing details in due course.