A hedgehog out for a nighttime walk, a moody shot of commuters crossing a misty bridge in Portugal and a vertical garden in Spain are just a few of the outstanding winners of this year’s ‘Urban Treasures’ European Environment Agency (EEA) photo competition announced today.

Every year, the EEA organises a photo competition around an environmental theme, inviting European citizens to capture that theme in photographs. This year's winners were chosen from 1300 pictures from across Europe. The images celebrate the beauty, diversity and sustainability of urban life. Each photo captures the positive strides we are making towards creating greener and more livable cities and towns.

The competition invited photographers to explore three themes: wildlife in the city, charming neighbourhoods and green at heart.

We would like to express our gratitude to all participants for sharing their beautiful photographs with us and congratulate the five winners for their outstanding achievement!

The 2024 winners are:

Wildlife in the city – "Nocturnal visitor" by Fabian Pfeifhofer

Charming neighbourhoods – "The vertical garden" by Antonio Farto

Green at heart – "Cyclists" by Ali Aslan

Youth Award – "Italian hunting" by Kristýna Koubková

Public Choice Award – "Right choice" by Pedro Cardoso

More information about this year’s competition: Urban Treasures — 2024 photo competition 

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