Abbey Road has announced the winners of this year’s Abbey Road Music Photography Awards competition! Winners include Kirby Gladstein who won the Music Moment of the Year award for an image of Lana Del Rey at Coachella 2024, and Melissa Gardner’s Lava La Rue image secured the Emerging Photographer of the Year. Plus, Anton Corbijn received the legendary ICON Award and David Bailey CBE received a special one-off Lifetime Achievement Award.
The winners were selected from over 20,000 images, submitted from 30 different countries. Two new categories were introduced for 2025 – Portrait and Festivals, while this year’s guest category was Club Culture.
An exhibition of nominated and winning images will be displayed on the walls of the Amphi Corridor at London’s Royal Albert Hall from 22 October until 3 November. With a special open day on Saturday 25 October between 10am and 4.30pm allowing free access to the general public. A further exhibition in November at Outernet London and include 2025 shortlisted entries.
From Abbey Road: The Abbey Road Music Photography Awards 2025 winners were announced during a thrilling and celebratory evening held across the iconic Studios One and Two. Hosted by the returning Lauren Laverne, the night revealed the winners and finalists of this year’s competition and also featured powerful live performances from Abbey Road’s Artist In Residence Jordan Rakei and Orla Gartland, plus DJ sets from Dimitri From Paris and Klaverson.
David Bailey CBE received a special one-off Lifetime Achievement Award this year, in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to music photography over the past sixty years. His wife Catherine collected the award, which was presented by music legend Nile Rodgers, while video tributes came from Elton John, Alice Cooper, Mary McCartney, Jarvis Cocker, Penelope Tree and Pattie Boyd. Mary McCartney said that Bailey is “a complete inspiration and a legend – you can feel him in every picture that he takes.”
Anton Corbijn received the ICON Award, which was presented by 2024 ICON winner Jill Furmanovsky, while Depeche Mode, U2, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Siouxsie Sioux, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Michael Stipe, Bryan Ferry, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler, and New Order / Joy Division’s Bernard Sumner sent video messages. Nick Cave said “You have spent your career making me more handsome and interesting than I actually am. Your work continues to fascinate and inspire us all. You are indeed an icon!”
The only global music photography awards, the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards champions, empowers and showcases the worldwide community of music photographers. This year, over 20,000 images were submitted from 30 different countries. Two new categories were introduced for 2025 – Portrait and Festivals, while this year’s guest category was Club Culture – celebrating images from any year.
Speaking about the winners of the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards 2025, the studios’ MD, Sally Davies, says: “Abbey Road has always stood at the intersection of music and creativity. These awards are our way of celebrating the photographers who make music visible, and freeze emotion and history in a single frame. It’s been a privilege to honour legends like David Bailey and Anton Corbijn, whose work has shaped the visual language of music for generations.”
Lead Judge, Rankin adds: “It’s so great to see music photography thriving. It has never felt more vital, and these images remind us why it’s such a powerful art form.”
Jordan Curtis Hughes’ candid picture of Matty Healy from The 1975 won the Making Music category, Ruby Boland’s shot of MAY-A took home the Live Music award, and Adam Ziegenhals’s great Unabomb image won in Underground Scenes. The public vote for the Music Moment of the Year award (supported by Outernet London) was won by Kirby Gladstein for her Lana Del Rey shot from Coachella 2024, while Melissa Gardner’s Lava La Rue image secured the Emerging Photographer of the Year award (supported by adidas). In this year’s new categories, Inès Ziouane’s image of Festival d’été de Québec won in Festivals, while Alec Castillo’s picture of Adam Amram collected the Portrait award. Club Culture, this year’s guest category was won by Connor Baker for his Glitterbox, Hï Ibiza club room shot, and Judges’ Choice was won by Platon for his Nile Rodgers image.
Winners received a trophy designed by London-based artist Rose Pilkington, best known for her immersive multi-dimensional digital work for Romy and Jamie xx, and for designing Instagram’s iconic gradient. Each unique artwork reimagines the analogue gear that has shaped countless recordings at Abbey Road, magnifying and abstracting imagery of recording consoles and studio equipment in x-ray, revealing the inner workings of these iconic tools.
All the nominated and winning images will be displayed on the walls of the Amphi Corridor at London’s Royal Albert Hall from 22 October until 3 November, allowing attendees to see the photographs in close-up. In addition, there will be a special open day on Saturday 25 October between 10am and 4.30pm allowing free access to the general public.
A further exhibition in November at Outernet London will go deeper into the 2025 shortlisted entries providing music and arts fans with a wider selection of images to discover.
Last month, Abbey Road announced the legendary Dutch photographer, filmmaker, and music video director Anton Corbijn as the recipient of this year’s ICON award. Born in Strijen in 1955, Anton Corbijn discovered photography through his love for music while still in high school in the Netherlands. He used his father’s camera for his first photos at an open-air concert in 1972, before moving from stage photography to portrait photography, initially only portraits of musicians. Anton moved to London in 1979 to pursue his love of music and photography and is today widely regarded as one of the most influential photographers, both in the world of music and in the world of portraiture photography.
Some of Anton’s best-known photography subjects include: Tom Waits, David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Ian Curtis, Clint Eastwood, Bryan Adams, Cameron Diaz, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Joni Mitchell, Robert De Niro, Gerhard Richter, Ai Weiwei, and Lucian Freud. He is also considered to be the ‘house’ photographer of both U2, shooting them for 43 years, and Depeche Mode, with whom he has been working for almost as long.
More competition news:
- Who just won $126,000 for a global photography award and for what?
- This epic total solar eclipse photo won Bird Photographer of the Year
- David Bailey gets Lifetime Achievement Award from Abbey Road
- Minimalist photography competition winners revealed
- Synchronised ‘ladybugs’ win Ocean Photographer of the Year
- Charli XCX, Pulp, Chappell Roan and more feature in Music Photography Awards shortlist
- World Sight Day photo competition open for entries!
