Daily Herald photo contest winners for July 2026
July’s winners in our “Your Images” amateur photo contest show that the best souvenir of a trip is often a memory you capture yourself.
Taking the top spot is Mary Bahry’s atmospheric photo of a small vessel sailing ahead of a fog bank forming on the Baltic Sea. The Wheaton resident writes, “I was on a cruise in the Baltic and fog was rolling in as we sailed to Lithuania. Love the look of the fog.”
In second place is Ken Gens’ tranquil photo of a sunset at Lake of the Woods, Morson, Ontario. The Elgin resident writes, “All sunsets up there are great, but in the 25 years we have been going up there, we haven’t seen one like this. The texture of the orange clouds, combined with the calm water, the blue sky, and the reflection on the lake was amazing.”
Evan Mann’s photo capturing the warm palette of a narrow limestone canyon comes in third. The Island Lake resident writes, “The photo captured the stunning red, orange, and other colors within the canyon and the breathtaking rock formations carved by flash floods. I love how the photo just doesn’t look real, and how you’d never expect something that pretty to be in the middle of nowhere.”
Rounding out this month’s entries is Joe Nagy’s entrancing photo of a sun-dappled old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. The Arlington Heights resident writes, “The trail is in a very dense rainforest with 200-foot trees. When I looked up and saw the sun peeking through, I thought it was just a really cool photo opportunity.”
Contest rules
The Daily Herald invites readers to submit their own photos to our “Your Images” amateur photo contest.
Once a month, we showcase entries that feature one first-place winner and three runners-up. The contest is open to everyone in the Daily Herald readership area.
• To submit a photo of your own for consideration, email it in .jpg format at highest quality possible to yourimages@dailyherald.com. Please remove any date stamps on the photo.
• Include your name, mailing address and phone number, plus a detailed description of your photo. Remember to include a sentence or two on what you like about it and your hometown.
• One photo a week per photographer, but enter as many weeks as you’d like.
• First-place winners will receive prizes alternating between The Great Frame Up in Schaumburg and PJ’s Camera in Glen Ellyn.