EEA’s “Environment & Me 2025” celebrates Europe’s environmental storytellers
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has announced the winners of its 2025 “Environment & Me” photography competition, drawing nearly 1,800 submissions from 36 countries. The winning images — from Türkiye, Sweden and Spain — reflect both the vulnerability and resilience of Europe’s natural and human landscapes in the face of climate change.
Capturing Europe’s changing environment
Launched in March 2025, the EEA’s “Environment & Me” competition invited photographers from across Europe and partner countries to depict their personal connection to the environment — how they experience, protect, or are affected by it in daily life. The initiative received nearly 1,800 entries from 36 countries, later narrowed to 42 finalists and four winners.
Spain and Italy accounted for nearly a third of submissions, followed by Türkiye, Germany, and Portugal, illustrating strong citizen engagement across both southern and central Europe. The contest was structured into three main categories — BLUE (Water & Me), GREEN (Nature & Me), and ORANGE (Everyday Life & Me) — alongside a Public Choice Award and a Youth Prize, which was not awarded this year due to eligibility issues.
Winners reveal human and natural resilience
BLUE – Water & Me
Winner: Ola Karlsson (Sweden) – “Bridge over troubled water.” An aerial image of people walking over thinning sea ice in Bjärred, Sweden, quietly underscores how climate change is reshaping familiar northern landscapes once seen as immutable.
GREEN – Nature & Me
Winner: Pepe Badia Marrero (Spain) – “King of hearts.” Amid heart-shaped leaves in the Anella Verda de Terrassa, a grasshopper rests in delicate balance. The image celebrates nature’s quiet poetry and the fragile ecosystems that sustain it — a tribute to biodiversity in one of Europe’s most urbanised regions.
ORANGE – Everyday Life & Me
Winner: Kristýna Koubková (Czech Republic) – “Work commitment.” A donkey and its owners toil through the arid fields of Teguise, Spain, beneath a blazing sun. The image tells a story of endurance, cooperation, and the struggle for sustainability amid changing climatic realities.
Public Choice Award
Winner: Fatih Yilmaz (Türkiye) – “Flapping its wings against drought.” Voted by citizens across Europe, this aerial photo of Burdur Lake captures a striking contrast: cracked, dry earth beside turquoise water, dotted with birds. It is a stark reflection of the region’s beauty and its vulnerability to drought.
A lens on Europe’s environmental story
Beyond their artistic merit, the winning photographs offer a collective reflection on Europe’s environmental trajectory — from melting ice and drying lakes to the persistence of life and labour under strain. They remind citizens and policymakers alike of the tangible changes shaping Europe’s ecosystems and livelihoods.
According to the European Environment Agency, the competition is one of its main outreach activities, aiming to transform environmental awareness into visual storytelling. The images will be featured in EEA publications and campaigns throughout the year, supporting its mission to communicate complex environmental issues through human perspective.
From awareness to engagement
The contest’s success — both in participation and thematic diversity — reflects a growing European consciousness about environmental challenges. As climate change accelerates and biodiversity loss deepens, visual storytelling becomes a bridge between data and empathy, inspiring collective action.
Competitions like “Environment & Me” show that every citizen can play a part in documenting Europe’s environmental journey — not only through policy or protest, but through the simple, powerful act of observation.
For more context on Europe’s environmental state, read The European Times’ coverage of the EEA’s latest environmental report.
About the competition
The EEA’s photo competitions are open to citizens of its 32 member countries and six cooperating countries, including the Western Balkans and Türkiye. The 2025 edition focused on personal connections with nature and sustainability. Each category winner receives €1,000, while the Public Choice Award carries a €500 prize. The Youth Prize was not awarded this year.
Through initiatives like this, the EEA aims to strengthen environmental dialogue, encouraging individuals to reflect on their surroundings and share stories that humanise the European ecological experience.
Conclusion
From the frozen shores of Sweden to the sunburnt soil of Spain and the drying lakes of Türkiye, the “Environment & Me 2025” competition portrays Europe’s fragile beauty — and its determination to endure. Each photograph is both a warning and an invitation: to see, to feel, and to act.
Read more at the EEA’s official announcement.
