Pano Awards Honor Rhino Run Photo
Preeti and Prashant Chacko won the Epson Digital Art Prize at the 2026 Epson International Pano Awards for a black-and-white panorama shot in Kenya.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Photography
Preeti and Prashant Chacko, known online as @composingthewild, won the Epson Digital Art Prize at the 2026 Epson International Pano Awards with their black-and-white photograph The Rugby Players. The image was taken at Solio Game Reserve in Kenya.
Why it matters
The Epson International Pano Awards, founded in 2019, is described as the world's largest competition dedicated to panoramic photography and drew thousands of entries this year. The win recognizes a wildlife panorama in a field where panoramic work is a specialized category.
The winning image is a black-and-white panorama titled The Rugby Players, showing eight rhinos with cattle egrets at Solio Game Reserve in Kenya. The competition drew thousands of entries, but the exact total is not stated.
The players
Preeti and Prashant Chacko
A photography duo who shoot under the name @composingthewild and won the Epson Digital Art Prize for The Rugby Players.
Epson International Pano Awards
The world's largest competition dedicated to panoramic photography, founded in 2019 and sponsored by Epson.
The details
The photographers were capturing a group of eight rhinos with cattle egrets walking among them when five of the animals suddenly broke into a run. The moment became the basis for the award-winning black-and-white panorama.
Timeline
2019: The Epson International Pano Awards is founded.
2026: The Epson Digital Art Prize is awarded at the 2026 Pano Awards.
Culture Shift
The award reflects the growing recognition of panoramic photography as a specialized discipline, with the Epson International Pano Awards serving as its dedicated global showcase since 2019. Wildlife panoramas like this one fit within that competitive niche.
Photographers interested in panoramic work can study the winning approach to composing wildlife scenes with multiple subjects in motion. Following the award, the Pano Awards competition remains an annual benchmark for entrants in this category.
The takeaway
Capturing a sudden moment of motion within a wide frame can turn ordinary wildlife encounters into award-worthy panoramas. Photographers working in panoramic formats can draw on this winning example when planning their own compositions.
Further reading
Explore more on Photography for additional context on panoramic and wildlife work.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Digital Camera World.
