The Trellis Photo Contest Results
Check out what our audience saw while riding bikes in 2025, why Philly is an amazing place to ride, and who won cash prizes and bragging rights.
The Trellis is a platform for practicing art and storytelling with the goal of documenting and elevating Philly biking culture. For the first time ever, The Trellis Photo Contest offered cash prizes for photos that capture what makes our biking community the very best around.
Prizes
Best Overall: $100 cash
Second Place Overall: $75 cash
Third Place Overall: $50 cash
Category Winners - $25 cash each:
- Best photo taken while riding a bike
- Best photo highlighting athleticism
- Best photo highlighting adventure
- Best photo highlighting activism or urbanism
- Best photo highlighting everyday biking
Judges scored each photo independently before a round of group deliberation. To guarantee that eight different artists would receive cash prizes, submissions from a winning artist were withdrawn from contention in subsequent categories. Two Judges' Choice selections are featured in each category. Learn more about the rules, judges, and evaluation criteria at Announcing The Trellis Photo Contest.
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in and supported this contest, especially Jay, ๓👁️🗨️𝐖, Linette, Chris, and Angela! Let us know in the comments what your favorites are and if we should do this again in 2026!
Best Overall
Center City, stripped down.
Justin Curtis
*This image was altered by this story's editor.
Second Place Overall
John Heinz in July
Third Place Overall
Cyclists being scrutinized on the Drexel campus.
Winner | While riding a bike
Bike surfing down broad street
Judges' Choice | While riding a bike
Existentialism / I Was Never Really Sure About You, Lauren
Judges' Choice | While riding a bike
Summertime Car-Free MLK Drive
Winner | Athleticism
snowy day in the wiss
Judges' Choice | Athleticism
The Spirit of Cycling: Crush the Commonwealth Finisher Phil Fox
Judges' Choice | Athleticism
Misha from Philly
Winner | Adventure
A Quick Fix
Orchid makes some last-minute adjustments to her bike before the race!
Ollie Reinert
Judges' Choice | Adventure
Indegos are actually pretty solid for mountain biking
Judges' Choice | Adventure
Dan and Joni
Winner | Activism or Urbanism
$5M for Safe Streets
Judges' Choice | Activism or Urbanism
Philly Bike Action's "Concrete Now!" rally with Gabriel leading a call to action for safe streets across Philadelphia.
Judges' Choice | Activism or Urbanism
Kermit
Winner | Everyday Biking
Taking a break after a fast bike ride to Clark Park :)
Judges' Choice | Everyday Biking
The warm up
Reginald McKim
Judges' Choice | Everyday Biking
Wheelie
Additional submissions: While riding a bike
1) Holiday lights ride and the skyline | Charlie Huemmler. 2) Just Rising Along | Adam Rahman
1) last bit of summer | Dan Chabanov. 2) 13th Street bike lane, fall, ginkgo tree | Christopher Parrish.
1) Trails in Valley Forge | Emma Ferrante. 2) Philly Bike Action's "Concrete Now!" rally with Gabriel leading a call to action for safe streets across Philadelphia. | Daniel Paschall.
1) A beautiful fall day in Laurel Hill Cemetery for Emma’s last ride in Philly before she moved out west. | Judy Arnobit. 2) Chilly morning on a randonneuring event in Philadelphia | Iwan Barankay.
1) Coming up on the Drexler Recreation Center with some good friends on Market Street. | Peter Arquette. 2) On a bike | Natallia Chakhau.
Additional submissions: Athleticism
1) PBA Activists clean Society Hill after SH Civic Association donated $25K to FOPS to sabotage all city bike lanes. Featured in SHCA Spotlight, Reporter. | Michael Novak. 2) Alleycat lineup fall 2025 | Jason Greco.
Additional submissions: Adventure
1) Duncan | Ashton Znaniecki. 2) Cycling through history in Fairmount Park | Denis Lattanzi.
1) Taking Brotherly Love on the next ultra-distance adventure | Iwan Barankay. 2) Went on a ten mile bike ride along MLK Drive + SRT on a beautiful day after being sick for a few days over Thanksgiving. | Frank Sung.
1) It's not an easy trail to get there, but this mysterious place is right there in the Wiss. | Linda Elgart. 2) View from trail in wissahickon | Kaden Silver.
1) Cherry picking on Kelly drive | Misha Prostorov. 2) Twas the night before unPAved, and a derailleur was broken. Too many riders, not enough mechanics. Derailleur got reassembled incorrectly and hush money shop owner baronvonfancypants had to reassemble it mid unPAved. | Matthew Altea.
1) OVERALLS Route - final miles, coming from Erie and going to Philly | Jake Haines. 2) Shot of Ben Franklin bridge from the Camden waterfront. In the photo is a refurbished Sears 10-speed that my dad rode in the city in the 70s. | Peter McLoone.
1) Shot of Philadelphia from C in Camden, NJ. In the photo is a refurbished Sears 10-speed my dad rode in the city in the 70s. Peter McLoone. 2) Photo of Philly skyline from the overlook at 61st St on the SRT. Peter McLoone.
Additional submissions: Activism or Urbanism
1) Teamwork | Lucas Martz. 2) Friday the 13th alleycat 2024! This was one of the alleycats that was hosted after i was fully healed from my horrible crash from riding with my friends. Couldn’t race the alleycat but still wanted to see the race happen so i came with my camera and took pictures and the picture i took highlights the cycling community in philly. | Jamie Santoso.
1) Goldsprints roller racing at the Keystone bike shop/philly bike expo afterparty | Matthew Altea. 2) The Climb. Took my friends on a photo bike ride around the city to my favorite photo locations. | Lucas Martz.
1) PBA activists enjoy Campo’s after East Market Business Support Ride during bike lane construction. This ride (my concept) demonstrated bike lanes =$$$ | Michael Novak. 2) Biking through the eagles win | Michael Garrity.
1) I love my bike! | Natallia Chakhau. 2) Live Free or Die | Misha Prostorov.
1) NameDatScoop / 39th St (Wednesday Night Rides, Mar 19, 2025) | Stefan Zajic. 2) Endpoint (Wednesday Night Rides, Apr 30 2025) | Stefan Zajic.
Additional submissions: Everyday Biking
1) Casey | Ashton Znaniecki. 2) Headhouse Square | Ashton Znaniecki.
1) The inside of Via Bikes. The mayhem in Curtis’ shop always amazes me. | Christopher Parrish. 2) Indogo and Tulips | Charlie Huemmler.
1) Just noodling around the neighborhood | Dan Chabanov. 2) Taken from the Grays Ferry bike lane. Part of my usual ride from river to the next. A cyclist fells out of place here, it feels almost like the suburbs and on a road clearly designed for cars. | Christopher Parrish.
1) A quiet kind of fast on MLK Drive | Denis Lattanzi. 2) Philly Bike Train! | Daniel Paschall.
1) Family and friends | Drew Alansky. 2) Rainy day ride | Drew Alansky.
1) Valley forge loop | Drew Alansky. 2) Took this double exposure on the Fourth of July, exposing nighttime fireworks over daytime photos. | Lucas Martz.
1) Nap hack | Megan Shannon. 2) riding back to papertrail bike cafe on one of the hottest days of the year. Bit of calmness before everyone uncorks it to race back to the cafe once we pass valley green inn. | Matthew Altea.
1) Spruce St Bike Lane Loading Zone @ PA Hospital; Indego seat in foreground. Cemetery, hospital, Tire Heaven truck emergency lights evokes mortality! | Michael Novak. 2) In a toddler voice: “Faster! More bicycle!” | Megan Shannon.
1) Golden hour | Noelle Dames. 2) Another day in the office | Misha Prostorov.
1) TITLE: Casual Community DESCRIPTION: Members of the Philly bike community gather in Washington Square Park for the start of an Alleycat at the end of June. | Ollie Reinert. 2) Loaners | Noelle Dames.
1) Sky, Forest, Pavement (Kelly Drive, May 20 2025) | Stefan Zajic. 2) Cyclists taking a a midway break for lunch on the Philly Tweed Ride | Peter Arquette.
1) Where you lead, bikes will follow | Uma McGuire. 2) “Watch this” at the Lucien Blackwell Community Center | Uma McGuire.
1) TITLE: The Simple Pleasures DESCRIPTION: A very Philly scene - a bike on the ground with an open PBR in the park. | Ollie Reinert. 2) Old City Market St bike lanes - every day biking and urbanism! | Virginia Lynn.