Mike Scott wins New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year
The Herald visual journalist also won the PhotoStory category for images following waka ama crews before and during the sprint nationals.
Mike Scott, a visual journalist at the NZ Herald, won the 2026 New Zealand Geographic Sony Photographer of the Year award at a ceremony at Auckland’s Q Theatre on October 21, the NZ Herald reported. He also won the PhotoStory category, an award for a sequence of images that follows a story.
The Herald reported that Scott received a NZ$1,500 cash prize and a voyage to the subantarctic islands with Heritage Expeditions. Almost 6,000 entries were submitted to the competition, which had 69 finalists, five award winners and eight category winners, according to the Herald.
What the judges highlighted in Scott’s work
New Zealand Geographic publisher James Frankham praised Scott’s patience, craft and rapport with his subjects. Frankham called him a ‘newsman to the bones’, pointing to work that ranged from urgent coverage of a wildfire to an intimate family portrait, the Herald reported.
When fire swept the Central Plateau in December 2025, Scott travelled from Hamilton and photographed the burn zone from a helicopter that day, Frankham said. One image showed a patch of forest spared by the blaze near the start of the Tongariro Crossing track. Frankham also singled out Scott’s portrait of 27-year-old cancer patient Paige Suisted with her mother, Rachel Raven, and grandmother, Sheryl, at Hospice Waikato shortly before Suisted’s death.
Scott’s winning PhotoStory followed waka ama crews as they prepared for the sprint nationals at Lake Karapiro and then competed. Frankham said the images showed life around the races as well as action on the water, including families gathered in marquees and embraces after racing.
Other 2026 photography award winners
The Herald’s winners list named Leanne Buchan as People’s Choice winner and Sara Tautuku Orme as both the Creative NZ Te Ao Māori Award and Senior Photographer winner. Louis Macalister won Young Photographer. The category winners included Alex Stammers for wildlife, David Matthew for landscape, Joshua McCormack for adventure and Jessie Casson for portrait photography.
New Zealand Geographic’s competition page lists categories spanning landscape, adventure, wildlife, aerial photography, portrait, society, PhotoStory and astrophotography. It had scheduled the 2026 awards night for October 21 in Auckland.
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Sources and context
- 'Newsman to the bones': Herald journalist wins NZ's biggest photo competitionNZ Herald
- Photographer of the Year 2026: Entries closedNew Zealand Geographic
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.