Awards

For three decades, the Ig Nobel Awards have celebrated the lighter side of science by highlighting research achievements that “first make people laugh then make them think.” And there’s no shortage of amusing projects amid the 2020 crop.

This selection of winning shots from the 2020 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest span everything from a gorgeously impressionistic shot of colorful stratospheric clouds, to a surreal snap of a laser homing in on a distant globular cluster.

All architecture impacts our lives, but probably none more so than housing. The AIA recognizes this with its 2020 Housing Awards. Highlights include a contemporary farmhouse and an apartment building shoehorned into a former parking area.

Lighting, composition, exposure, technique ... None of it matters if your photo can't tell a story and convey emotion – and the finalists from the 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards each tell a thousand words, and hopefully give you a grin!

It has not been a great year for travel. Conversely, it's a terrific year for looking at travel photos and getting your wanderlust on. Mobile app Agora's users have spoken, and from 13,685 entries, have selected their favorite travel photos of 2020.

The winners in this year’s Nature inFocus Photography Awards illustrate the variety of ways wildlife inhabit the natural environment, from a face-off between a hyena and a leopard to a snap of a dolphin leaping out of the ocean in front of a setting sun.

From an energetic Pacific island celebration to a colorful apartment block in Tokyo, the winners of this year’s National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition celebrate the best photographic talent in the United Kingdom.

The magnificent selection of winning images from the 2020 Bird Photographer of the Year offer a diverse assortment of shots, from an evocatively impressionistic grand-prize-winning photograph to incredible perspectives of birds in human environments.

In its second year, the Minimalist Photography Awards delivers another spread of images affirming the ethos, “less is more.” With a focus on abstract patterns and colorful contrasts, this photo contest celebrates images pared back to the bare essentials.

The mind-bending winners of the 2020 Macro Art Photo Awards offer a surreal assortment of images. From a close-up of tree bark made to resemble landscape drone photography, to some glimpses of mischievous tree frogs, this macro photography contest is an annual highlight for fans of tiny things made large.

In its 11th year, the Urban International Photo Awards continues its dedicated focus on modern life, from the grand architectural spaces of big cities, to more rural small-town experiences. Here's a selection of finalists from the 2020 competition.

Agora’s 2020 landscape photography contest delivers a spectacular assortment of images, from powerful displays of lightning, to several compelling shots of tiny human figures overwhelmed by the majesty of the natural environment.