SkyPixel 2026 Winners: See the Best Drone Photos and Videos of the Year
BY Zacc Dukowitz
5 May 2026SkyPixel is DJI’s online community for aerial photographers and videographers.
Its Aerial Photo & Video Contest has been running for 11 years now—and this year’s pool of submissions was huge.
DJI says the 11th annual contest drew nearly 95,000 submissions from 96 countries and regions.
The winners are always worth checking out. Not just because the photos and videos are beautiful, but because they show where drone photography and aerial filmmaking are headed.
This year’s winning videos and photos include a range of work, including beautiful cinematic shots, carefully framed landscapes, FPV wildlife sequences, and top-down compositions that turn real places into patterns.
We’re not going to cover every winner here. Instead, we’ll focus on the top prizes and a few standout entries from the 2026 contest.
Annual Best Video Prize—Aerial
“Africa Unseen” by Ellis van Jason
The top aerial video prize went to Africa Unseen by Ellis van Jason, a seven-minute film showing Africa’s landscapes and wildlife through a mix of cinematic drone footage, FPV flying, and ground-based camera work.
According to DJI, Van Jason used a wide range of DJI gear to make the video, including the DJI Action 5 Pro, Avata 2, Inspire 3, Mavic 3 Pro, Ronin 4D, RS 4 Pro, and DJI Focus Pro. The final piece was built from more than 35TB of 8K footage.
The video moves through deserts, grasslands, canyons, and wildlife scenes, with FPV sequences that put the viewer close to animals in motion. DJI notes that the production followed local laws and was conducted with on-set oversight, and that no animals were harmed or disturbed during filming.
See the winning video on SkyPixel.
Annual Best Video Prize—Handheld
“Elsewhere The Gaze Can Always Arrive” by AYANG
The top handheld video prize went to Elsewhere The Gaze Can Always Arrive by AYANG.
This category is a little different from the traditional aerial contest entries. The winning work blends aerial and ground footage, with DJI describing it as a poetic narrative built from a variety of shot types.
That mix is worth noting. SkyPixel may be known for drone work, but the contest now reflects a broader creator toolkit—drones, gimbals, action cameras, and handheld systems all working together to tell a complete visual story.
See the winning video on SkyPixel.
Annual Best Photo Prize
“The Gate” by Filip Hrebenda
Credit: Filip Hrebenda | SkyPixel
The top photo prize this year went to The Gate by Filip Hrebenda.
The image shows a natural rock bridge rising above fog, with a lone person standing on the formation for scale. DJI says judges praised the image for its clean composition, rare atmospheric conditions, and the way mist, shadow, and human scale work together.
See the winning photo on SkyPixel.
Standout Photo Winners
“Carpet Fields” by F. Dilek Yurdakul
Credit: F. Dilek Yurdakul | SkyPixel
Carpet Fields turns a working landscape into a patterned aerial composition.
From above, rows of red carpets create a strong rhythm across the frame. DJI says judges called out the image’s use of pattern, scale, and cultural storytelling.
It’s the kind of drone photo that works because it’s both graphic and grounded. The pattern catches your eye first, but the human labor behind the scene gives the image more weight.
“Smoking Skull” by Daniel
Credit: Daniel | SkyPixel
Smoking Skull captures a volcanic scene where smoke, lava, and dark terrain form the shape of a skull.
DJI describes the image as a rare volcanic moment captured with perfect timing. The result is dramatic, but not in a heavily staged way—the power comes from catching a natural formation at exactly the right time.
For drone photographers, it’s also a reminder that timing matters as much as location. The drone gets you the perspective, but the image only works if everything lines up.
Standout Video Winners
“No Borders from Above” by Michael Putzer
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No Borders from Above uses aerial imagery to explore themes of unity and peace. That can be hard to do without becoming too abstract, but aerial footage is well suited to this kind of idea because it naturally pulls the viewer back from ground-level boundaries.
See the winning video on SkyPixel.
“Eden After” by KM-DC
Eden After documents a large-scale land art installation created in the heart of a 520-acre restored mining area.
The piece, made with biodegradable paint over 10 days, covers about 11,625 square feet (1,080 square meters), depicting a sleeping baby beneath a night sky. The artists describe the work as a meditation on renewal: a former mining pit becomes a canvas for hope, recovery, and coexistence.
See the winning video on SkyPixel.
What This Year’s SkyPixel Winners Show
This year’s winners show how much the tools and production scale have evolved—but also how little the fundamentals have changed.
The winning aerial video, Africa Unseen, is a good example. DJI says the project used more than 35TB of 8K footage and multiple DJI platforms, including drones, FPV systems, action cameras, and cinema tools. That kind of production shows how far top-level drone filmmaking has moved beyond simple scenic flyovers.
The photo winners show the other side of that.
Images like The Gate and Carpet Fields aren’t just impressive because they were shot from the air. They work because of timing, composition, scale, and restraint.
That’s probably the biggest takeaway for drone photographers and filmmakers. The tools keep getting better, but the entries that stand out still come down to the same fundamentals: strong framing, a clear idea, and knowing when the aerial perspective actually adds something.
