Top 100 Photographers of the Year 2025

Honoured to present our Top 100 Family Photographers of 2025. Documentary family work demands sensitivity, timing and the ability to see meaning in the ordinary. With thousands of submissions and our rigorous five-judge process, earning an Award is genuinely difficult — and making this list speaks to consistency, skill and storytelling. A huge congratulations to everyone included.

Special congratulations to Els Korsten, who has become both our Overall Photographer of the Year and Storyteller of the Year — an extraordinary double. With a remarkable 15 Awards earned in 2025, it’s an outstanding accomplishment and a testament to her consistency, creativity and storytelling across the year. You can see one of her Awards above.

You can also discover our Top 20 Storytellers, along with Top 10 lists for Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, the UK, and the USA.

*Ranking is determined by overall number of Awards won in 2025; in the case of a tie, the photographer who won the most Family Story Awards ranks higher.

No poses; nothing staged – This is Reportage: Family