iPhone 7 photo wins Apple iPhone Photography Award Grand Prize 2021 - Here are all the winners

Istvan Kerekes / Hungary / Grand Prize Winner / Transylvanian Shepherds | Shot on iPhone 7 / Targu Mures, Transylvania, Romania

Apple’s annual iPhone Photography Awards event has happened for 2021 and the winners have been announced. The competition covers seventeen categories with winners coming from all over the world including Australia, Germany, Bangladesh, China, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Israel, the Netherlands, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The competition is, obviously, to celebrate the photographers submitting, but also to highlight the capabilities of the iPhone camera. But as well as proving that you don’t always need the highest-end mirrorless camera to take a decent photo, you don’t even need the latest iPhone to win the iPhone competition. The overall winner this year is Hungary-based Istvan Kerekes for his photo of Transilvanian Shepherds, shot on an iPhone 7.

This theme follows through the competition with some of the winning images being created with iPhones as old as the iPhone 5S. In fact, their are a surprising amount of older iPhone devices amongst the winners this year.

The grand prize winner, pictured above, is Istvan Kerekes from Hungary, with his portrait of two Transylvanian Shepherds, and many of the rest of the winning entries this year are equally as impressive. But without further ado, here are the rest of this year’s iPhone Photography Awards winners.

Photographer of the Year

Sharan Shetty / India / 1st Place / Photographer of the Year / Bonding | Shot on iPhone X / Yanar Dag, Baku, Azerbaijan

Dan Liu / China / 2nd Place / Photographer of the Year / A Walk on Mars | Shot on iPhone 11 Pro Max / Qinghai, China

Jeff Rayner / United States / 3rd Place / Photographer of the Year / Side-Walking on Air | Shot on iPhone X / Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California

Abstract

: Glenn Homann / Australia / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Bei Xiao / China / 2nd Place iPhone 12 Pro Max

: Matteo Lava / Italy / 3rd Place / iPhone 8 Plus

Animals

: Laila Bakker / Netherlands / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro Max

: Elizabeth Burns / United States / 2nd Place / iPhone XS

: Theresa Lee / Australia / 3rd Place / iPhone XR

Architecture

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: Yayun Liu / China / 2nd Place / iPhone 7 Plus

: Tao He / China / 3rd Place / iPhone XS Max

Children

: Dong Wei / China / 1st Place / iPhone 7 Plus

: Iakovos Draculis / Greece / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Diego Moreno / Mexico / 3rd Place / iPhone 5S

City Life

: Liz Huang / United States / 1st Place / iPhone X

: Lisi Li / China / 2nd Place / iPhone XS Max

: Ann Ghory-Goodman / United States / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

Environment

: Einat Shteckler / Israel / 1st Place / iPhone 11

: Glenn Homann / Australia / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Song Han / China / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro Max

Landscape

: Lizhi Wang / United States / 1st Place / iPhone XR

: Jialin Liu / China / 2nd Place / iPhone 8 Plus

: Shi Tian Zhang / China / 3rd Place / iPhone X

Lifestyle

: Mahabub Hossain Khan / Bangladesh / 1st Place / iPhone XS

: Keith Brofsky / United States / 2nd Place / iPhone X

: Valerie Helbich-Poschacher / Germany / 3rd Place / iPhone 8

Nature

: Christian Horgan / Australia / 1st Place / iPhone X

: Ge Wang / United Kingdom / 2nd Place / iPhone 7 Plus

: Marton Tordai / Hungary / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro Max

Other

: Zerry Song / China / 1st Place / iPhone 7

: Carlotta Consonni / Italy / 2nd Place / iPhone XS

: Pavlo Kyryliuk / United States / 3rd Place / iPhone X

Panorama

: Gabriele Rodriquez / Italy / 1st Place / iPhone XS

: Matthew Lahtinen / United States / 2nd Place / iPhone 12 Pro Max

: Andre Skagervik / Sweden / 3rd Place / iPhone 6

People

: Christian Horgan / Australia / 1st Place / iPhone X

: Shuo Li / China / 2nd Place / iPhone 12 Pro Max

: Alessandra Manzotti / Italy / 3rd Place / iPhone 8

Portrait

: Krysten Crabtree / United States / 1st Place / iPhone 12 Pro

: Juliet Cope / United Kingdom / 2nd Place / iPhone XS

: Quim Fabregas / Spain / 3rd Place / iPhone 8

Series

: Erin Brooks / United States / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Erin Brooks / United States / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Erin Brooks / United States / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Dina Alfasi / Israel / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro & 12 Pro

: Dina Alfasi / Israel / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro & 12 Pro

: Dina Alfasi / Israel / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro & 12 Pro

: Haibao Tong / China / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Haibao Tong / China / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Haibao Tong / China / 3rd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

Still Life

: Kunkun Liu / China / 1st Place / iPhone 12 Pro Max

: Hexiang Zhou / China / 2nd Place / iPhone 7 Plus

: Yi Liao / China / 3rd Place / iPhone 7 Plus

Sunset

: Claire Droppert / Netherlands / 1st Place / iPhone 11 Pro Max

: Enhua Ni / China / 2nd Place / iPhone 7 Plus

: Danette Spriggs / United States / 3rd Place / iPhone 12 Pro Max

Travel

: Tatiana Merzlyakova / Russia / 1st Place / iPhone 12 Pro Max

: Dina Alfasi / Israel / 2nd Place / iPhone 11 Pro

: Talib Almarri / Saudi Arabia / 3rd Place / iPhone X

The images above really do go to show that sometimes, it really isn’t about having the best gear with you, but about mastering the gear you do have. Even smartphones are capable of some pretty decent photography these days, as the winning images above serve to prove.

Congratulations to all the winners. You can find out more about the competition, its rules and other information on the Apple iPhone Photography Awards website.

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