The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust (ABTOT) is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 #ABTOTOneShot photo competition. Through the competition, now in its fourth year, ABTOT highlights Members’ destinations and experiences which reflects positively on the wider Membership network. It also reinforces ABTOT’s brand as active, engaging and Member oriented rather than purely regulatory and administrative.
Launched later in the year and running through August and September, the #ABTOTOneShot competition invited Members to submit their best travel photographs. The standard of submissions was once more exceptionally high, with the top two or three shots in each category separated by only a point each time.
Categories maintained for Broader Recognition
As with last year, ABTOT retained the four photographic categories, offering more chances for Members to win the coveted top prizes. The categories were:
- Cities Building and Accommodation
- People and Culture
- Landscapes and Landmarks
- Wildlife and Birding.
Each category saw remarkable entries, making the judges’ job especially challenging. The ABTOT judging panel, comprising Samantha, Vicky, Julie, Natalie, and Bernice, reviewed all submissions independently, each shortlisting their top five selections. After the careful counting of scores, a winner emerged from each category, but it was a very close competition this year. Membership Director Samantha Bradbury comments
“It just gets harder and harder each year to pick favourites, the standard is so high and photography is such a personal subject, what speaks to one member of the panel doesn’t necessarily speak to another. We have some amazing winners this year and amazing runners up too.”
And the Winners Are…
Cities, Building and Accommodation
Zoe Kirkbride, Absolute Escapes
Zoe’s winning photo, captures a haunting beauty in bold colours. Zoe was a winner last year in the People and Culture category and has a keen eye for a winning shot.
Zoe told us
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have won the ‘Buildings’ category in this year’s #ABTOTOneShot competition! The photo was taken earlier this year during my walk along the West Highland Way – a breathtaking experience from start to finish. I captured this shot while taking a quiet moment at the Rowardennan Hotel, looking out across Loch Lomond. The framing of the window against the loch and hills beyond felt like the perfect still moment in a journey full of movement. I’m so pleased others connected with it too!”
People and Culture
Thomas Power, Pura Aventura
Tom’s entry, fittingly called ‘Superman’ is from a recent tour to Costa Rica.
Tom told us
“I love to take photos as I travel, always trying to do that inclusive thing of capturing the spirit of a place. This photo feels like it gets close – it’s so amazing to have been honoured this way by ABTOT. The photo itself was taken up in a village of the BriBri community in the Talamanca mountains of southern Costa Rica, right up against the Panama frontier. It took hours to get there, one of them in a motorised dugout canoe complete with man on the prow holding a strong wooden pole used to propel us upstream through the stronger rapids and shallower shallows. The first thing we did when we got to the village was to walk down to their river swimming pool. Being a Saturday the kids weren’t in school, so they trooped along with us to play. That’s all this photo is – kids playing in the river. But these are kids who have materially very little, western society would deem them poor. They are anything but poor in their quality of life, happiness asks only access to nature. That’s what this photo means to me.”
Landscapes and Landmarks
Cory Coupe, North47 Limited
Cory is the resort manager in Austria and took this striking shot of the iconic cable cars at Wagrain. The bold red against the monochrome snowy background enabled this shot to pick up the most points in a hard fought category with the most entries of the four.
Cory told us
“I took this in March just after a fresh fall of snow – I was instructing a ski group and on the chairlift when I looked across and saw the gondolas and just had to try and take a picture. The cable cars are going to be replaced next year after 40 years so they are a landmark feature in the resort and I’m really pleased how well the picture came out.”
Wildlife and Birding
Hatty Caplan, Equestrian Escapes.
Hatty was delighted to hear she had won the wildlife category – she said
“this photo was at a break stop on a recent Riding With The Herd 4-night Icelandic break – we travel as a small group of 12 riders and the wild Icelandic ponies join the group in their hacks and are incredibly photogenic as you can see.”
Congratulations to all our fabulous winners.
ABTOT extends its congratulations to all winners and participants. The full gallery of submissions will be published soon, showcasing the incredible talent across ABTOT’s Membership.
For those who missed out on entering this year’s competition, we look forward to seeing your entries next year!