/ 2025 / Special / Night Photography

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Naoki Toda, Japan

Beneath the Milky Way, a woman reaches out to the stars, silently pleading with her shining hands. Inspired by the Tanabata legend, in which Orihime (Vega), a woman, and Hikoboshi (Altair), a man, are allowed to reunite across the Milky Way only once a year. The heart-shaped bench placed beneath her symbolizes this. Taken at a mountaintop park in Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.