Smartphone pips Nikon Z8 to top prize in America’s State Parks Photo Contest – who needs a high-end camera to win awards, eh?

Hikers walking towards moody clouds with sunlight piercing through above a rugged landscape. — (Image credit: Dianne Slotten)

I love the whole debate around using a sophisticated mirrorless or DSLR camera versus a smartphone, and this contest-winning image is yet again proof that cameraphones can stand up to professional rigs.

Taken by photographer Dianne Slotten in Catalina State Park, Arizona, on an iPhone 16 Pro, the image went on to win the Grand Prize at the 2026 America’s State Parks Photo Contest, which was a whopping $10,000 (approximately £7,500/AU$14,300). Not bad for a smartphone image…

What’s more, Slotten’s photo, which ReserveAmerica, the contest co-host, said captured the “moody and mystical” atmosphere of a drizzly November morning in the Sonoran Desert, pipped two other photographers who were both shooting with a Nikon Z8.

Sometimes called the “baby Z9,” the Z8 features the same powerhouse 45.7MP CMOS sensor as the flagship Nikon Z9, not to mention the solid autofocus made up of 493 phase-detect and contrast-detect points, respectively.

Wooden walkway crossing a body of water at sunset. — (Image credit: Chris Dahl)

Chris Dahl's gear

The two Z8 photographers, great artists in their own rights, were Chris Dahl and Angie Precure. Dahl placed first in the “Shores & Waterways” category for what the contest co-hosts called a “quiet, deeply reflective composition” of a waterway in Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina.

While Precure won the “Peaks & Plains” category with a landscape shot of Steptoe Butte State Park Heritage Site, Washington, which depicted clouds during a “dramatic transition.”

Rolling landscape at sunset. — (Image credit: Angie Precure)

Angie Precure's gear

The America’s State Parks Photo Contest is an annual national photography competition hosted by America’s State Parks in partnership with the National Association of State Park Directors (NASPD) and ReserveAmerica/Aspira.

Visitors submit photos to showcase the natural beauty, wildlife, and outdoor recreation found across state parks in all 50 U.S. states. To see all of this year’s contest-winning images and hear from the winners themselves, watch the winners video below…

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I’m a writer, journalist and photographer who joined Digital Camera World in 2026. I started out in editorial in 2021 and my words have spanned sustainability, careers advice, travel and tourism, and photography – the latter two being my passions.

I first picked up a camera in my early twenties having had an interest in photography from a young age. Since then, I’ve worked on a freelance basis, mostly internationally in the travel and tourism sector. You’ll usually find me out on a hike shooting landscapes and adventure shots in my free time.