DJI SkyPixel 11th Contest Names ‘Africa Unseen’ Best Video As Submissions Fall By A Third

DJI and SkyPixel announced the winners of the 11th Annual SkyPixel Photo and Video Contest on April 27, naming “Africa Unseen” by ellisvanjason as the Annual Best Video in the Aerial Category. Slovak photographer Filip Hrebenda won the Annual Best Photo prize for “The Gate.” AYANG took Annual Best Video in the Handheld Category for “Elsewhere The Gaze Can Always Arrive.”

The contest pulled nearly 95,000 submissions from 96 countries and regions. That figure cuts roughly a third off last year’s 10th edition, which gathered nearly 140,000 entries from more than 140 countries. Submission volume fell sharply even as DJI raised the prize pool to over $200,000 from $170,000.

“Africa Unseen” Distills 35TB Of 8K Footage Into Seven Minutes

The Annual Best Video in the Aerial Category deployed seven DJI products across its production. Creator ellisvanjason used the DJI Action 5 Pro, Avata 2, Inspire 3, Mavic 3 Pro, Ronin 4D, RS 4 Pro, and DJI Focus Pro to capture footage across the African wilderness. The final cut distills more than 35TB of 8K material into a seven-minute film.

The creator described the project as his last large-scale “passion piece,” choosing to close this chapter of his work at his peak. The video moves between sweeping desert vistas, grasslands, and dramatic canyons, with FPV sequences placing viewers next to running and soaring wildlife. The press release notes the production followed local laws and regulations under on-set oversight, with no animals harmed or disturbed.

Judges Zeng Jian, Ryan Hosking, and Benjamin Hardman selected the film. Hardman described the piece as “one of the most cinematic works in the competition.” Hosking pointed to its color work and consistent camera movement. Zeng Jian praised its precise composition and visual control.

Filip Hrebenda Takes Top Photo Prize For “The Gate”

Slovak photographer Filip Hrebenda won the Annual Best Photo award for “The Gate,” a composition placing a lone human figure beneath a natural rock arch in atmospheric fog. Judge Daniel Kordan praised the rare environmental conditions and balanced framing. Judge Jake Guzman pointed to the rock bridge as the focal point, with the lone subject providing scale.

Among the Annual Top 10 Photo winners, F. Dilek Yurdakul’s “Carpet Fields” drew judge attention for its rhythmic patterns and cultural storytelling. Daniel Kordan praised the strong use of pattern and scale, while Jiang Ping called the scene calm and harmonious. Daniel’s “Smoking Skull” captured a rare volcanic moment that produced a natural skull-shaped formation, which Jiang Ping called a rare aerial moment.

Handheld Winner Blends Aerial And Ground Footage

AYANG’s “Elsewhere The Gaze Can Always Arrive” won Annual Best Video in the Handheld Category. The work combines aerial and ground footage to support a poetic narrative thread. Judges Ryan Hosking and Benjamin Hardman pointed to its mix of tight and wide compositions and uniform visual treatment.

Other top-10 video winners included Michael Putzer’s “NO BORDERS FROM ABOVE,” which uses aerial imagery to address themes of unity, and David Karg’s “UNLIMITED The Perfect Ride,” which documents extreme sports cinematography. KM DC’s “Eden After” combines land art with environmental commentary.

Submission Volume Falls Despite Larger Prize Pool

The 95,000-submission figure cuts roughly a third off last year’s 10th annual contest count of 140,000 entries. Country participation dropped from more than 140 to 96. The decline arrived even though DJI grew the contest’s prize pool to over $200,000 across 53 awards, up from $170,000 the prior year, and brought Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister onto the judging panel for the first time.

When DroneXL covered the contest’s mid-point in February, submissions had reached 45,000 with the deadline approaching on March 10. The final number roughly doubled in the closing month, but still landed well below last year’s pace.

The submission window covered a turbulent period for DJI in the United States. Submissions opened November 27, 2025. On December 22, the FCC added all foreign-made drones to its Covered List, blocking new authorizations for DJI and other foreign manufacturers. The contest then ran for almost three more months under that regulatory shift before closing.

DJI did not address the participation decline in its winners announcement. The press release also did not provide a country-by-country submission breakdown.

DroneXL’s Take

The submission decline is the most interesting data point in this announcement, and DJI’s silence on it is the second most interesting.

The 10th edition’s 140,000 entries set a high-water mark for the contest. This year’s 95,000 retreats sharply from that peak, even as DJI bumped the prize pool to over $200,000 and added an Academy Award-winning cinematographer to the judging panel. A larger prize and a bigger-name judge ought to attract more submissions, not fewer. Country participation also dropped from more than 140 to 96, which is a 31% contraction in the global reach DJI has spent eleven years building.

One honest caveat: the 10th edition was the contest’s 10-year anniversary, which DJI promoted aggressively, and that almost certainly pulled forward submissions that would otherwise have been spread across multiple years. Some reversion off that peak was always likely. But the country count is harder to wave away. Anniversary marketing brings in more entries from the same creator base. Losing 44 countries off the participation list points at something structural, not a one-time spike unwinding.

Several factors plausibly contributed. The FCC Covered List action arrived less than a month into the submission window. American operators were already dealing with US Customs holds and supply shortages on DJI gear through much of 2025, which means less new footage to enter. Last week we reported on Joanna Steidle, a 10th-edition Top 10 photo winner whose Mavic 4 Pro prize spent six months stuck in US Customs before DJI sent her a more valuable replacement through a third country. Her case overlapped the entire 11th contest submission window. The story only went public in late April, after the deadline closed, but the Customs problem itself was operating in the background the whole time.

How much of the 45,000 missing submissions sits in the United States bucket is an open question. The press release does not break submissions down by country, and that opacity is itself a choice.

What this competition still demonstrates is the depth of work the platform produces. Africa Unseen using seven different DJI products, from FPV cinema rigs to gimbals to handheld action cameras, is the kind of production case study no Skydio or Autel competitor can match today, because no competitor sells that breadth of cinema-grade tooling. The hardware side of DJI’s moat shows up clearly in the winners list even when the participation side weakens.

Watch the 12th annual contest’s submission numbers when DJI announces them in late 2026 or early 2027. If country participation continues to drop, the question of whether SkyPixel is becoming a less global competition gets harder to ignore, regardless of how cinematic the winning entries look.

Source: DJI press release announcing 11th Annual SkyPixel Photo and Video Contest winners.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.