This year’s winning images from the Patagonia Photo Contest have been announced – among them two shots depicting a bird which, historically, Incan communities revered for its power, strength and freedom, considering the species sacred.
I’m talking about the Andean condor, a vulture native to the South American highlands, which today represents a national symbol for several countries across this part of the world, including Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile.
Overall competition winner and self-professed "lover of nature and its creatures," Argentinian Mauricio Rossanigo, snagged the title of Patagonia Photographer of the Year for his frame of a pair of condors embracing each other beneath the iconic Fitz Roy massif (above).
“We waited quietly, until suddenly condors began appearing above us, more and more, until some landed on the ledges,” Mauricio told Patagon Journal, the competition organizer. “Then the pair arrived and the magic happened: they began to nuzzle and interact so beautifully we couldn’t believe it, and all it took was the right click.”
Condors typically mate for life. They form long-term, monogamous pair bonds, staying together year-round to share courtship rituals, nesting and raising their young. Mauricio’s shot perfectly captures this, as does the title he gave it: For a Lifetime.
While Mauricio took the overall win with his endearing condor image, French photographer Timothy Dhalleine's Flight of the Condor (below) snagged the Readers' Choice Award. His majestic shot shows two condors with their huge wingspans on full display as they soared above Laguna Sofía (Lake Sofia) in the Magallanes region of Chilean Patagonia.
The largest flying birds in the world by combined weight and wingspan, condors can weigh up to 33lbs (15kg) and their enormous wingspans can exceed 10ft (3m). They glide on thermal air currents and have been documented soaring for over five hours – and traveling over a hundred miles – without a single flap of their wings.
“These animals are powerful but fragile, and they’re in danger, especially in northern South America, where they’ve disappeared in some places,” Timothy told Patagon Journal. “It’s crucial to remember how important it is to protect them.”
Patagon Journal hosts the photo contest every two years to celebrate Patagonia across landscape, wildlife, culture, and environmental image categories. The 2026 edition attracted 1,826 amateur and professional photographers from 12 countries, all competing to document the unique character of southern Argentina and Chile.
Each category winner took home retail gift cards worth around US$400 (approximately £300 / AU$580), while runners-up received custom hiking equipment. As the overall competition winner, Rossanigo also received a Sony A6700 camera and a six-day photography trip to Chile's scenic Puelo region.
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