How do you win the Festive Calendar Challenge? The victors reveal all…

Natalie Denton•Travel & Adventure•04 bře 2026•5 minuty čtení

Nikon magazine - Festive challenge winners

The winners of our Festive Calendar Challenge reveal how they’ll be putting their new Nikon Z5II cameras to good use, and share what it took to secure the prizes

The Festive Calendar Challenge comes but once a year, but its spirit of creativity and inspiration lives on well beyond the season of giving, particularly as the competition’s winners have just received their prize: the Nikon Z5II.

Designed to inspire everyone from adventurous beginners to seasoned pros, the Festive Calendar Challenge sets a creative brief every day throughout advent. From perfecting pet portraits to filming the season in slow motion, photographers and videographers across all genres were encouraged to experiment with techniques and styles, explore new ideas and embrace creative freedom. Whether taking part just for fun or eager to enter the competition, all were welcome to enjoy the 24-day winter contest. With challenge images and videos submitted via a dedicated Instagram hashtag, entries from all over the continent were shortlisted before being whittled down to two overall winners: Stewart Gillespie from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Manuel Varrazza from Aarau, near Basel, Switzerland.

The winners of our Festive Calendar Challenge reveal how they’ll be putting their new Nikon Z5II cameras to good use, and share what it took to secure the prizes

Natalie Denton

Photographer & Writer•Weddings•Portraits

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Z5IITruly together

BTS with winner Stewart Gillespie. Opening image: Nikon Coolpix P950, built-in lens (24-2000mm equivalent NIKKOR lens) at 196mm (1100mm full-frame equivalent), f/5.6, 1/125 sec, and ISO 400, ©Stewart Gillespie

Stewart Gillespie: Nikon Europe winner

“It was Day 16 – ‘The holly and the ivy and all winter’s flora and foliage’,” answers Stewart, when asked which day he won, having taking part in several of the challenges just for fun. “The brief was to focus on the hardy flora that define the colder months, and I thought that one looked perfect for me as I’m out in nature all the time.”

A keen amateur for just two years, Stewart has a passion for wildlife photography, particularly birds, and can often be found out in nature when not working as a reporting analyst for a law firm. “There are always birds on our fence where I live, and I started to get curious about what birds they were,” he says. “So I started taking pictures. Then I started researching other birds, and wondering where I needed to go to get a picture of them. So I’d visit these places and might see a fox, a deer or a badger, and it just kind of snowballed. I wanted to spread that passion, so I started trying to take photos to show other people.”

It’s these exact circumstances that led to Stewart fulfilling the brief for Day 16, and ultimately winning the competition. “I’d gone to a wildlife sanctuary in Donegal, not sure what I’d see especially as the weather was fluctuating,” he explains. “Later in the day, the rain stopped, and the golden hour gave the most perfect light. Then I saw him, the fox, and I saw the holly leaves. I moved slowly so as not to spook him, and lined up the picture so the holly framed his eye. Luckily, he was distracted by basking in that sun while I got the photo. It was as if the stars aligned.”

Stewart captured his photo using the Nikon Coolpix P950, a 16MP superzoom bridge camera. “It shows that you don’t need a top of the range camera to be able to take good photos, and this camera is amazing for the reach that it gives you, plus it’s a really good camera to train with,” he says. Now he’s received the Nikon Z5II, he’s excited to take his photography to the next level: “As soon as I found out I’d won, I began deep diving into articles and videos of what I could do with the Z5II and making a wish list of all the lenses I’m going to need!”

Stewart’s top tip for winning in 2026: “Your image should have a clear intention. It should be obvious which brief it relates to. The judges are well versed in photography, but I like to think: if a stranger was to look at the photo, would they understand what I was trying to show?”

Nikon Z6III with NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 at 68mm, f/4, 1/50 sec, ISO 1000 ©Manuel Varrazza

Manuel Varrazza: Nikon DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) winner

For lifelong photography enthusiast Manuel Varrazza, his love of still life and street photography proved the perfect combination, with his Day 1 entry hitting the brief straight out of the gate. Titled ‘Framing Christmas: get creative with composition’, the challenge asked photographers to imagine they had been hired by a Christmas card company to create just four designs. “The competition encouraged me to broaden my perspective and try new things, for example, photographing handheld with a relatively slow shutter speed. The challenge motivated me to step out of routines and rules,” says Manuel, who took the winning picture using a Nikon Z6III while visiting a Christmas market in Olten, Switzerland, with his son. “The market was decorated with lots of baubles hanging in the air,” he continues. “I liked the reflections on the baubles and the matching golden colour with the stars on them. When artificial snow started blowing from one of the stalls, I had to capture that combination quickly because it created a very beautiful atmosphere. I just happened to be there at exactly the right moment when the artificial snow appeared – and I reacted purely on instinct.”

Wanting to keep the snowflakes sharp, Manuel says he chose to deliberately underexpose the image to keep the background dark. “Thanks to the Z6III’s ability to photograph at higher ISO with very little noise and good stabilisation, along with a steady hand, I was able to capture a sharp image despite the relatively slow shutter speed,” he says.

“This reflects how I like to photograph – capturing seemingly insignificant subjects and moments and turning them into expressive images. This image is meant to convey a Christmas mood and a sense of strength. Strength because, despite the cold and snow, the bauble shines in comparison, dominating the image, and yet it conveys warmth.”

Describing himself as an “an experienced all-round photographer”, Manuel’s work as a B2B account manager gives him plenty of opportunity to travel, allowing him to practise his passion, with an eye on maybe one day taking it further. “I was stunned!” he says of the moment he found out he’d won. “It makes me a bit proud and confirms that I’m on the right path.” Planning on replacing his second camera (a Nikon D5000) with the Z5II, Manuel says the new camera will allow him to react to situations far quicker – “For example, when I need a different focal length or don’t want to change batteries in the middle of a session,” he explains. “It is also a full-frame camera, unlike the D5000, and, as with the Z6III, I can send photos directly to the cloud or my phone, which I sometimes miss with the D5000.”

Manuel’s top tip for winning in 2026: “A strong image should invite people to look at it and convey a mood. It’s allowed to be different from what you’re used to. Perspective and composition can, and may, be daring and unconventional.”

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