This guide to the IAPLC 2026 Top 10 gives each work room to speak. Start with its original photograph, notice one defining detail, then follow the creator or a related feature through the AquaLibs archive.
Names and ranks follow the official IAPLC results; work titles and awards follow the published image cards. The observations are AquaLibs’ independent visual readings, not official judges’ comments. “Stories” describes our reading of the scenes, rather than a claim about the creators’ stated intentions. Earlier works are labelled by year.
Explore the Top 10
Open a work below, or start with the detail that interests you most.
| Rank | Work | Creator | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 万物自然 | Chuanwei Yu | China |
| #2 | Fallen Genesis | Ha Le Trinh | Vietnam |
| #3 | 幽径 — Unseen Path | Takashi Hosoda | Japan |
| #4 | The Geometry of Weightlessness | Marco Kowal | Netherlands |
| #5 | 重生 | Fan Zhe Min | China |
| #6 | Adrift | Minh Toan Nguyen | Vietnam |
| #7 | MAGIC LEAVES | Nobphacha Yimyou | Thailand |
| #8 | Enchanted Hills | Luiz Andre Lemos De Oliveira Junior | Brazil |
| #9 | Beneath the Sleeping Lake | Katsuki Tanaka | Japan |
| #10 | 方舟 | Gang Zhao | China |
For open space, start with #4. For a rock landscape, try #8. For surface colour, go to #7. For a route into the distance, compare #3 and #10.
1. 万物自然 — Chuanwei Yu
World rank 1 · China · Grand Prize
A woodland held together by unequal trunks. Two substantial tree-like forms establish the scene, but their different shapes keep it from becoming a mirror image. Roots cross between them, while green planting connects the wood to the foreground. A bright opening left of centre gives the eye somewhere to travel. Small blue-red fish make the sheltered spaces feel occupied and lend scale to the larger forms.
Look closer: Follow one root towards the bright opening and count the layers it passes.
Read our full analysis of the 2026 Grand Prize · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #2 — Fallen Genesis · Back to the Top 10 guide
2. Fallen Genesis — Ha Le Trinh
World rank 2 · Vietnam · Gold Prize
A fallen structure becomes the centre of a living scene. A broad diagonal of wood connects the planted banks, with a powerful root structure on the right. Smaller branches and green growth make the fallen timber feel integrated into its surroundings. The eye discovers space through openings beneath and around it. Fish remain visible in the shaded middle, adding a quieter rhythm beneath the much larger gestures of the wood.
Look closer: Look beneath the main diagonal: the smaller gaps carry much of the depth.
Read our feature on Vietnam’s IAPLC 2026 award winners · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #3 — 幽径 — Unseen Path · Back to the Top 10 guide
3. 幽径 — Unseen Path — Takashi Hosoda
World rank 3 · Japan · Silver Prize
A pale path invites us through a curtain of roots. The light substrate leads inward between dark, planted banks, while slender hanging forms interrupt the view of the distance. An arch of branches defines the upper frame. Warm foliage near the top adds another layer above the greener ground. The photograph balances an easily followed route with enough concealment to make the destination feel worth discovering.
Look closer: Compare the broad foreground passage with its narrow, partly hidden end.
Revisit Meotogi, Hosoda’s IAPLC 2024 Bronze Prize work · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #4 — The Geometry of Weightlessness · Back to the Top 10 guide
4. The Geometry of Weightlessness — Marco Kowal
World rank 4 · Netherlands · Silver Prize
Open water makes heavy timber appear to hover. Long wood layers stretch across the aquarium, with bright water visible between them. Those gaps make the upper structure seem unusually light despite its size. Fine planting follows the timber without filling every opening, while pale fish stand out against the darker middle-left. The scene’s strongest invitation is to examine the spaces separating its horizontal forms.
Look closer: Look at the bright gaps first, then return to the wood surrounding them.
Read the 2026 award overview, including Kowal’s work · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #5 — 重生 · Back to the Top 10 guide
5. 重生 — Fan Zhe Min
World rank 5 · China · Bronze Prize
A ring of fine leaves directs attention towards light. Long, fine foliage curves around a bright rear opening. Below it, green-covered wood creates stepped, sloping surfaces that draw the foreground into the same scene. Small warm plant accents and blue-red fish punctuate the greens. The opening gives this intricate arrangement a clear destination, while the changing leaf textures help separate its layers.
Look closer: Notice how the long upper leaves frame the opening without closing it.
Compare with Place of origin, Fan’s IAPLC 2023 Grand Prize · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #6 — Adrift · Back to the Top 10 guide
6. Adrift — Minh Toan Nguyen
World rank 6 · Vietnam · Bronze Prize
An enclosed forest opens towards a distant clearing. Trunks and branches radiate around a bright upper opening, producing a strong contrast between the near woodland and the space beyond. Finer fallen pieces add another set of layers close to the ground. Green growth follows the timber, while the fish group is especially noticeable against the darker middle-left. The scene rewards a slow journey from its foreground into the clearing.
Look closer: Separate the nearest fallen branches from the larger trunks behind them.
Revisit Storming, Nguyen’s IAPLC 2021 Gold Prize work · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #7 — MAGIC LEAVES · Back to the Top 10 guide
7. MAGIC LEAVES — Nobphacha Yimyou
World rank 7 · Thailand · Bronze Prize
The surface canopy gives the aquarium its signature. Broad red leaves near the surface introduce a distinctive ceiling above tangled wood and predominantly green planting. A large branching form reaches across the middle, with fish visible beneath it. The contrast between the warm canopy and shaded lower scene gives the photograph two connected levels of interest: the water’s surface and the inhabited space below.
Look closer: Read the red canopy and the dark branching silhouette as separate layers.
Explore the making of Red Filter, Yimyou’s IAPLC 2025 work · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #8 — Enchanted Hills · Back to the Top 10 guide
8. Enchanted Hills — Luiz Andre Lemos De Oliveira Junior
World rank 8 · Brazil · Honor Prize
A rock valley opens into bright water. Jagged stone groups frame a pale, winding passage and a broad rear opening. Smaller rocks create intermediate steps between the foreground and the distance. Warm foliage on the left contrasts with the greener right bank, while blue fish are conspicuous against the light water. Its expansive atmosphere provides a useful counterpoint to the more enclosed woodland scenes.
Look closer: Trace the pale passage, then compare the apparent sizes of nearby and distant rocks.
Revisit Between the mountains in our IAPLC 2025 review · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #9 — Beneath the Sleeping Lake · Back to the Top 10 guide
9. Beneath the Sleeping Lake — Katsuki Tanaka
World rank 9 · Japan · Honor Prize
A bright forest rises above a richly planted foreground. A substantial diagonal trunk connects the scene, with slimmer upright forms visible in the brighter background. Beneath it, dark pockets of water separate the wood from a foreground rich in leaf shapes, fine stems and reddish accents. The contrast between that detailed lower planting and the lighter forest beyond makes the photograph rewarding at both large and small scales.
Look closer: Move between the colourful foreground and the slender trees at the back.
Explore Tanaka’s PRIMAL BURST, IAPLC 2025 Silver Prize · View the creator on AquaRank
Next: #10 — 方舟 · Back to the Top 10 guide
10. 方舟 — Gang Zhao
World rank 10 · China · Honor Prize
A sheltered foreground faces a luminous opening. Dark planted masses and overhead wood surround a bright opening slightly right of centre. Pale patches of substrate and low greenery carry the eye towards it, while a horizontal fallen piece defines the nearer plane. Fish are prominent against the shadow below that wood. The photograph brings together an inviting destination and a distinctly aquatic space in the foreground.
Look closer: Look at the foreground fish before following the light into the distance.
Revisit Longing, Zhao’s IAPLC 2023 Gold Prize work · View the creator on AquaRank
Keep exploring: three ways to continue
- Study one work in depth. Start with our Chuanwei Yu Grand Prize analysis, then return to this guide and compare its depth cues with another aquarium.
- Follow one creator across seasons. Open an AquaRank profile from the links above and choose another available photograph. Look for recurring choices in wood, planting, open water or colour.
- Go beyond the leading ten. Browse the IAPLC 2026 results and gallery and choose a work further down the ranking. A memorable aquarium can be the beginning of a much longer visit.
The most revealing comparison is often between two works that solve the same problem differently. Try #1 and #6 for layered woodland depth, #4 and #8 for open space, or #7 and #9 for the role of plant colour. Return to the full photographs and see which small decisions change the atmosphere.
Which work would you return to first—and which detail makes you stay? Share its rank and tell us what you noticed.
Sources: official IAPLC 2026 ranking and published contest image cards; linked AquaLibs features and AquaRank records. Chinese work titles are retained where no verified English title appears on the card. Visual commentary: AquaLibs. Original contest photographs: Aqua Design Amano Co., Ltd.; creators credited individually above.
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