Visit Lake County Announces its 2025 #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest Winners

By: Jonathan Jones 07/22/2025

The phrase, “take a picture; it’ll last longer,” takes new meaning as you take your impressive imagery of Lake County.

The fifth installment #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest ran from April 1-June 30. By utilizing our third-party gallery aggregator Crowdriff and the #LetsSnapLakeCounty hashtag, we received myriad submissions. To take a look at last  year's winners, continue here. For the 2022 version of the contest, click here to look at the the winners. Continue here to view the 2021 photo contest winners. To see the 2020 winners, click here.

Your friends at the Lake County Convention and Visitor Bureau were astounded by our visitors’ and residents’ photography talent. We asked you to showcase where you live, work, eat, play and shop, and you did not disappoint. The snaps were downright #InstaGood.

The Visit Lake County staff voted on your submissions, and in this announcement, and we will reveal the winners of the following six categories: “Grand Prize Winner,” “Outdoor Photos,” “Family/People Imagery,” “Dining/Libations,” “Lake County Event Photography” and “Other Travel Culture (including architecture, downtown areas, photo manipulation, shopping, drone, etc.) and Video. In this year's edition, there were no dining entries. Visit Lake County would like to thank the winners and those that took the time to enter a submission. Continue scrolling to see our winners.

Honorable Mention

While we loved all of the snaps you submitted, there were a few more sparking lengthy debates to win in several categories. Visit Lake County would like to revisit, highlight and commend those shutterbugs that submitted beautiful and inspiring imagery.

By: Catherine Demet in the City of Highwood

By: Karen Chin at Aspergren Farms in Mundelein

By: Kelley Dorner at the Memorial Day Ceremony in Grayslake

By: Punnya Mekkunnath at Captain Daniel Wrights Woods in Mettawa

By: Thais O'Malley at Waukegan Harbor during Aurora Borealis

By: Kathy Johnson at the Lake County Fairgrounds and Event Center in Grayslake

By: Amanda Zacharski at Slocum Lake in Wauconda

Winners of the #letssnaplakecounty photo contest

Continue scrolling below to view the winners of the #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest voted on by the Visit Lake County staff. Great job, land of lakes shutterbugs, and keep up the camera snapping work. 

Family/People Imagery Winner

By: Andrew Sonkin at Hastings Lake Forest Preserve in Lake Villa

Lake County Events

By: Tara Kolber at Stiner Pavilion in Waukegan

Dining/Libations

By: Ceilidh Jimenez at Beer Garden at Independence Grove in Libertyville

Other Travel Culture Winner

By: David Yamada at Waukegan Harbor and Marina

Outdoor Winner

By: Megan Guerrero at Countryside Lake in Mundelein (This is Guerrero's second #LetsSnapLakeCounty Photo Contest win, after notching one in the Other Travel Culture category in 2020).

Video Winner

By: Nancy Tonkin at Waukegan Municipal Beach

Grand Prize Winner

By: Carlos Curiel at Barn at Millennium Park, Lindenhurst, Lehmann Park and Lake Villa Library

For more things to do in Lake County, continue here. To view last year's winners, click here. To learn more about Lake County Road Trips, continue here.