2025 Hill Country Photo Contest Results Announced
2025 Photo Contest Results Announced
“Home in the Hill Country”
Thank you to all who entered! Click here to read the full press release announcing the winners.
Grand Prize – Into the Depths, Devil’s Sinkhole by Geary Schindel
The Texas Hill Country is a beautiful region filled with diverse wildlife, clear springs, sprawling rural landscapes, historic towns, and some of the starriest night skies in the country. With a rapidly growing population and increasing development coming into the region, many of these special qualities are at risk of being lost. Each year the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) holds a photo contest encouraging photographers to capture features of the Texas Hill Country they would like to protect forever.
With more than 500 entries in the 2025 Photo Contest, this year’s winning photos show the diversity of life and natural beauty that is abundant within our region – brilliantly colored songbirds, flowing rivers, hidden caverns hosting entire ecosystems beneath our feet, and clear views of a million stars above. The final four winning photographs were selected by a panel of judges and are featured in HCA’s popular 2026 Texas Hill Country Calendar, available now on the HCA website.
Geary Schindel’s grand prize-winning photo shows a rare view of the Texas Hill Country taken to the west, in Edwards County. “Into the Depths, Devil’s Sinkhole” stole the show with a view from within the sinkhole, reminding us of the hidden world beneath our hills – made up of caves and karst. As Schindel noted in his submission, “The entrance to the Devil’s Sinkhole is a 145-foot rappel into a large chamber. The cave is home to a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats and swifts.” Devil’s Sinkhole State Natural Area is open to the public and managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Devil’s Sinkhole Society.
1st Place Winner - Painted Bunting
Photographer: Phil Ort
2nd Place Winner - Captured by the Stars
Photographer: Kim Clendenen
3rd Place Winner - Changing Colors
Photographer: Norman Williams
People's Choice Award Winner - Escape
Photographer: Cole Hoffman
In addition to these photo contest winners, the Hill Country Alliance would like to recognize the following contestants whose photography is featured in the 2026 Hill Country Calendar:
Airon Mothershed
Alicia Paparo
Allan Boutwell
Amira Van Leeuwen
April Rohlich
Ashley Campbell
Carol Serur
Carolyn Whiteside
Colette Nicholl
Daniel Filipe
Holly Ewing
Jacob Janssen
Jeffrey Newton
Jesus Corona
John Neyland
Karen Roberts
Kathy Locke
Khanh Le
LaRue Roth
Laura Bray
Laura M. Levy
Mariela Rodriguez
Mia Havelka
Michael Mallory
Michael Tidwell
Michael Wight
Michelle Graham
Pascual Cervantes
Patrick McKimmey
Sergina Flaherty
Sheila Ellwood
Stephanie Saldivar
Steve Kotzur
Susan Hanson
Tracy Costello
The Hill Country Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise public awareness and build community support around the need to preserve the natural resources and heritage of the Central Texas Hill Country. Visit us at www.hillcountryalliance.org.
Learn about past photo contests: 2023 Hill Country Photo Contest
Contact:
Leah Cuddeback, Storytelling and Public Engagement – Hill Country Alliance | leah@hillcountryalliance.org