Winners of the 2026 Bike Photo Contest
The results are in for our 2026 AU photo contest! We asked all of our students, staff, and Alumni for their best bike photos and they did not disappoint! This year’s photo contest challenged you to capture the most important possession you can own in Aarhus: your bike! Here are our winners as well as our favourite (and funniest) honourable mentions...
This Year's Theme: Bikes!
Whether you’re a Dane or an international, one of the best ways to get around Aarhus is to bike! With over 450,021 meters of public bike lanes in Aarhus, cycling is the fastest, easiest, and most environmentally friendly way to travel. It’s the favourite mode of transportation for most students at AU, and now that the sun is shining and the weather is warm, there are more bikes than ever out on the roads and parked outside the university.
These bikes were the inspiration for our 2026 Photo Contest at Aarhus University’s international department. We wanted to put your photography skills to the test!
We received submissions from many different students, and our expert panel of judges (a.k.a. The social media team at Aarhus University’s international centre) has spent countless minutes deliberating which of your submissions impressed us the most. Our top three winners will be shared on Instagram and Facebook. Here, we have highlighted the winners and some of our other favourite photos we received.
Finally, the results are in. Congratulations to… *drum roll please*
WINNER
Mahdie Rasaei
Mahdie Rasaei’s photo is our 1st place winner for our 2026 Photo Contest! Among all of our submissions, our judges felt this one stood out the most. Between the pink cherry blossoms framing the bike and the purple cello being carried on the woman's back, this really felt like the perfect shot!
2ND PLACE
Ivan Marcano Pereira
Our second-place medal goes to Ivan Marcano Pereira for this amazing picture of a biker under the reflection of the Aros Museum’s rainbow panorama. The judges loved the composition of this photo and how well it expresses both Aarhus’s bike and art culture, highlighting the iconic Aros museum.
3RD PLACE
Nawal Jamil
And the bronze goes to… Nawal Jamil for this photo entitled ‘Vintage Aarhus’! This submission is a colourful and aesthetically pleasing photo of a bike parked in front of a vintage Boghandel. Our judges felt that both the building in the background and the simple-looking bike reflected Aarhus’s history and culture.
Of course, our judges wish to award special titles to some of the other great submissions which didn’t make the podium. Here are our honourable mentions…
FUNNIEST PHOTOS
Andrea Vittoria
We have two honourable mentions for the funniest bike photo. The first goes to Andrea Vittoria, who explains: ‘It has been some years since my Danish experience in Aarhus, but when I saw the contest, I couldn’t help but share one of the funniest things that happened to me during my exchange year. So here it is, my bike on a Sunday morning after a party at the campus: for reference, it took her a couple hours, but as magically as she got up, she got back down to her place, and I still don’t know how.’ 😂
Rares Ripiciuc
The second honourable mention goes to Rares Ripiciuc for this photo with a collection of pink bikes! (Where did these come from?!)
COOLEST BIKE PHOTOS
Rares Ripiciuc
We have two honourable mentions for this category! The first goes to Rares Ripiciuc for this fantastic photo of a guy riding a very tall bike around the rainy streets of Aarhus.
Ivan Marcano Pereira
The second honourable mention goes to another submission from Ivan Marcano Pereira for this awesome photo of a man balancing on a rock with his back tire!
MOST AESTHETICALLY PLEASING
Ivan Marcano Pereira
We have three different honourable mentions for the most aesthetic bike photo. The first goes to Ivan Marcano Pereira, who submitted another photo: a red bike in front of a red wall. Beautiful!
Valeria Pomante
The second mention goes to Valeria Pomante for her photo of two bikes under a big willow tree.
Valeria Pomante
... And the third mention is also for Valeria Pomante! We loved the photo’s dramatic colour scheme.
BEST CLOSE UP
Michelle Nguyen
This honourable mention goes to Michelle Nguyen for the close-up of her bike, which she says she took next to the A2B building before going to the Danish module test.
PHOTO WITH THE BEST NATURE/WEATHER
Levi Sarosi
We also have a couple of honourable mentions for photos with the best (or craziest) nature and weather.
The first mention goes to Levi Sarosi, who said, “I have this really cool picture of a bike from the crazy winter of 2023/2024 when school was cancelled due to the heavy snow!” We thought his photo really captured how Danes (and internationals) bike anywhere, anytime, no matter the weather.
Rares Ripiciuc
The second mention goes to Rares Ripiciuc for this fantastic photo of a bright red bike in a field WITH A COW! So cute!
BEST CAPTURES DANISH CULTURE
Henrik Mengkrogen
This honourable mention goes to Henrik Mengkrogen. What’s more Danish than a bike carrying a crate of Carlsberg beers?!
Kelsey Gatis
The second honourable mention goes to Kelsey Gatis, who submitted a photo showing off a bike parked along the bustling restaurants and cafes of the city centre’s canal. Not to mention, the slightly cloudy skies, capturing our most typical Danish weather.
THE MOST BIKES IN ONE PHOTO
Kelsey Gatis
Finally, our last honourable mention also goes to Kelsey Gatis, who submitted a second photo. Her unique shot does a great job at capturing just how many bikes are used during our daily lives in Aarhus (which is certainly a lot).
Thank you to everyone who participated! We loved seeing all of your great photos and impressive photography skills. Congratulations again to our winners, and we hope to see more of your photos in the future when we do our next photo contest.
As the danes say, vi ses!