A Stroud photographer has won a national award for a dramatic image of two Red Arrows jets flying at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.
Paul Nicholls was named the winner of the Cultural Events category at the 2026 Event Photography Awards. The winning photograph was taken at the 2025 air tattoo and shows two Red Arrows aircraft in flight.
A fourth Event Photography Award
The latest success adds to an already substantial list of awards for Nicholls. He said the 2026 prize was his fourth Event Photography Award, following earlier wins in the Cultural category in 2020, the Portfolio category in 2022 and the Christmas category in 2024.
“I’m pleased to announce I am the Event Photography Awards Cultural Category Winner 2026 for my image of the Red Arrows at RIAT RAF Fairford 2025.”
Nicholls said the competition attracted more than 2,300 images from events held around the world, submitted by photographers from more than 20 countries. He described the quality of the entries as “amazing” and congratulated the other winners.
Image used by the Daily Telegraph
The award-winning photograph had already received wider attention. Nicholls said the image was used by the Daily Telegraph at the time of the 2025 event.
The Royal International Air Tattoo took place at RAF Fairford, making the picture a record of one of the country’s major aviation events as well as a showcase for the Red Arrows display team.
Nicholls’s latest award was reported by Stroud Times on September 17, 2026, following the awards announcement the previous week. The report also included a link to more of his photography work for readers who want to see further examples of his images.
He used the announcement to thank fellow photographers and highlight the international scale of the awards, while adding another national accolade to his photography career.
