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Irma Zsabo, the first woman to win the MontPhoto award, receives the award at an emotional gala in Lloret de Mar
The MontPhoto 2024 awards ceremony was the crowning glory of an edition that broke records in terms of participation, with 1,120 photographers from 67 countries and a total of 12,600 images submitted. Among the highlights of the evening, the Best Nature Portfolio Award was given to Spanish photographer Jaime Rojo for his moving project Save the Monarch, which documents the astonishing migration of monarch butterflies, one of the most extraordinary and challenging journeys on the planet. The award-winning images can be viewed on the official MontPhoto website, where the publication Inspirats per la natura 2024 is also available.
©Quim Dasquens
Winning photograph MontPhoto 2024
The winner of this edition was the Hungarian photographer Irma Zsabo, with her work Night Walking, which received the MontPhoto 2024 Honorary Award.
After 28 editions, it is noteworthy that, for the first time, the absolute prize has gone to a woman.
Irma is a passionate nature photographer. With a creative style, she has a great fondness for moving and backlit photographs. She shares a hobby with her husband as a great enjoyable pastime, but it is also a huge challenge to get the photos she imagines beforehand.
However, she likes to let chance prevail in order to photograph what nature offers her.
In the words of the author herself:
“The animal photographed in Hungary last winter is a roe deer. They are easy to find mainly at the edge of forests with scattered fields and meadows. As food is scarce in winter, many roe deer visit crop fields to feed. Experts (foresters and national park staff) place feeders in many places in the forests so that roe deer can get food more easily.”
Irma is experimenting a lot with long exposures and explains that she took the photo from a hiding place in an isolated field in the woods, with some lights in front of the hiding place. Naturally, it took many nights to get a photo like this.
Winners by category
- The winner of the first prize in the Mountain category was the Spaniard Francisco Muñoz for the work Facing the Virgin. The award was presented by Arturo Rodríguez, a member of the jury for this edition.
- In the Birds category, the winner was the Polish Mateusz Piesiak with a work entitled Commotion.
- In the category called Other Animals, the winner was the Hungarian Tibor Litauszki with his work Between the stars.
- In the Plant World category, Michele Pennati from Italy won the first prize thanks to his photograph In the clouds.
- Fire in the entrails by the Spaniard Rubén Expósito Díaz won the first prize in the
- In the Underwater World category, the award went to Anton Sorokin from the United States for his photograph entitled Chinook Salmon and Eggs.
- In the Ecological Complaint category, Crash by Bence Mate (Hungary) was chosen as the winning photograph.
- In the Art in Nature category, the winner was again Tibor Litauszki from Hungary with his photograph Kissed by a ghost.
- Montphoto also awarded special prizes for the best photograph of Lloret, which was received by Julia Ferrer Morell for the work Cau la nit and for the best photograph of Catalonia, entitled Venus’ Belt by Lluc Semis
- The young prizes went to Gerard Carbonell (Spain) for Safe on her Back and
- The prize to highlight the MontPhoto Community member with the greatest number of award-winning works in this edition went to Gheorghe Popa from Romania.
©Quim Dasquens
©Quim Dasquens
©Xavier Xaubet
©Quim Dasquens
©Quim Dasquens
©Xavier Xaubet
Jaime Rojo, award for the best nature portfolio
In the Portfolio category, the award goes not to a single image, but to a complete photographic project that stands out for its technical quality, narrative coherence and ability to convey a message. Creating a portfolio is no easy task: it requires a solid vision that connects all the images in a common thread. Moreover, when it comes to conservation, a good portfolio can be a powerful tool to raise awareness and promote change.
In this edition, the winner of the Portfolio award has been the Spanish photographer Jaime Rojo, with his impressive work Save the Monarchs. The award was presented by the renowned photographer Tino Soriano during the MontPhoto Fest 2024 gala.
Save the Monarch Project
Jaime Rojo’s portfolio documents one of nature’s most fascinating spectacles: the annual migration of monarch butterflies. Each year, these small but resilient creatures travel nearly 4,000 kilometers from the grasslands of the United States and Canada to the forests of Mexico, facing multiple threats.
However, their population has declined by 90% over the past three decades, due to the loss of grasslands in the United States and Canada due to the expansion of industrial agriculture, and the deterioration of Mexican forests that serve as winter refuge.
Jaime captures not only the beauty and mystery of this phenomenon, but also the collective efforts to save it: scientists, citizens, indigenous communities, farmers and teachers work throughout North America to protect these butterflies, emblematic among pollinators and crucial to the balance of ecosystems.
©Xavier Xaubet
©Quim Dasquens
©Quim Dasquens
MontPhoto Gala 2024 in pictures
Whether you attended or were unable to join us this year, be sure to visit the Flickr gallery.
Young Awards and Changing Planet
The MontPhoto Young Awards, aimed at photographers up to 17 years old, celebrate emerging talent in nature photography within the main competition. This year, the top prizes went to Entre girares by Andrés Luis Domínguez Blanco (Spain, 14 years old) in the Children’s category, and Donde rompen las onda by Diego Moreno (Spain, 16 years old) in the Youth category. Among the finalists, Battle of Corals stands out, by Panitbhand Paribatra Na Ayudhya (Thailand, 12 years old), who travelled from Thailand to collect his award, demonstrating the international reach and enthusiasm generated by the competition. The awards were presented by Olivia Mandle, an activist committed to the fight for marine animals and the well-being of the planet, who dedicated some emotional words to the audience present.
On the other hand, the external project Changing Planet , under the motto “Help us change the planet”, recognised young talents who explore the relationship between people and their environment. In this edition, Safe on her Back by Gerard Carbonell Morales (Spain, 25 years old) and And Life Goes On by Arthur Cech (France, 15 years old) were the winning works, standing out for their ability to reflect major global challenges, such as the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Both projects are a reflection of MontPhoto’s commitment to the new generations and their role in positive change.
©Quim Dasquens
©Quim Dasquens
©Quim Dasquens
