Winners of the 2026 Frozen Falls contest were announced on Tuesday.

“Give someone a camera or a phone and they captured the falls like I’ve never seen before.” said Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, who was a judge.

Niagara Parks posted a video to social media showing some of how judges decided on the winners.

“Some of them hit me right here,” he added while gesturing to his chest. “I could really feel the ice, the formations, the arctic cold.”

The contest was looking to get people to capture Niagara Falls and the ice formations that developed when parts of the falls were frozen this winter.

“We had a phenomenal winter here at Niagara Falls,” said Niagara Parks CEO David Adames in the video. “The falls haven’t looked this frozen in over 10 years.”

The falls don’t actually freeze completely, though it may look like it, according to Niagara Parks. Mist and spray form a crust of ice over the water when temperatures are very cold. While it can look like the falls have stopped, there’s still water flowing under the ice.

There were two separate photo and video contests, with three winners each. First place winners were set to get $5,000, second place $2,500 and third place $1,000.

The winners for the photo contest were Mytny Photography in first place, Ajo Mathew or The Soul Photography in second, and Rob Miller in third.

For the video contest, the winners were Raju Lama Moktan in first place, Nico Bayran in second and Maiky Kastelo in third.

The panel of judges included Diodati, Adames, interim president and CEO of Niagara Falls Tourism Adam Stiles, and content creators Will Tang and Jonathan Gazze.

“I know you guys are looking at a lot of technical,” Diodati told the other judges in the video.

“For me it’s emotional, which one moves me?”