Their submissions needed to be aerial images - taken using drones, helicopters, airplanes, kites and even balloons.

All in the name of the first edition of the Aerial Photography Awards and the $10,000 prize.

The competition received thousands of entries from 65 participating countries. The prestigious jury, who voted without knowing the name or country of the participants, awarded 11 photographers in the six master categories.

From the versatile list of awarded photos, a number of them stood out in the first places and received the Aerial Photo of the Year 2020 Award:

In the daily life category, The Lady of the Sea, a photo taken by Vietnamese photographer Duy Sinh, shows a fishing net thrown from a boat, which forms a woman's face.

In the documentary category, photographer Marc Le Cornu takes first place with a photo of the Jersey Airport Rescue & Firefighting Service training on a burning plane.

In the transportation category, the first place goes to a photo of a merchant ship navigating in the middle of the ice in the Gulf of Finland, shot by Russian photographer Alexander Sukharev.

Chinese photographer Yiran Ding and his photo of Shanghai seen through an airplane window won the travel category.

Joel Jochum's enigmatic image of an energy storage facility in Germany received the jury's best votes in the Industrial category.

Chinese photographer Hua Shang's image of a group of flamingos flying over Lake Natron in Kenya was chosen by the Jury in the Wildlife category.

In the world in lockdown category, dedicated to photos that deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the picture of the Indian photographer Prabu Mohan, depicting a building in Vietnam whose windows were all covered with the national flag as a sign of support, won first place.

The photo of a WWI ship ruin on the French coast, photographed by the Belgian photographer Reginald Van de Velde received the best votes from the jury in the abandoned places category.

The architecture category was won by a photo from Belgian photographer Sebastien Nagy. It portrayed an almost abstract cityscape.

The same photographer captured the colorful roofs of Gran Canaria Islands to win the cityscapes category.

In the Sports category, it is a refined photo of a tennis player titled Ball Up, by Australian photographer Brad Walls, which seduced the jury.

In the waterscapes category, the image of the UK based photographer Kyle Vollaers of a surrealist iceberg drifting off the coast of Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland was awarded.

In the constructions category, it's a photo of the Dubai Frame, known as "the largest photo frame in the world", photographed by the Lebanese photographer Bachir Moukarzel who is in the first place.

In the category trees and forests, the photograph of a herd of sheep crossing an autumn forest by Mehmet Aslan won first place.

In the environmental category, the photo of farmers in the middle of a field devastated by floodwater, taken by the Bangladeshi photographer Azim Khan Ronnie received the best votes.

It's the series of montages made from hundreds of aerial photos by the Brazilian photographer Cassio Vasconcellos in the digitally enhanced category that caught the attention of the jury.

The poetic photo of a child trying to grab a plastic bag by Canadian photographer Ryan Koopmans won first place in the fine art - other category.

In the landscapes category, it's a landscape from another world, shot in the highlands of Iceland by the Swiss photographer Sebastian Muller, that is voted best.

In the abstract category it's a photograph of the Tatacoa desert in Colombia, shot by the photographer Johan Vandenhecke, that won.

In the world culture category, it is a photo of 600,000 devotees participating in the largest Eid-ul-Fitr congregation in south-east Asia. This image was taken by the Bangladeshi photographer Azim Khan Ronnie.

In the patterns category, a photo of multiple umbrellas crossing each other in the streets, taken by Japanese photographer Daniel Bonte won the first place.

In the accommodations category, the jury chose a minimalist and colorful photo of the apartments of the Burj Khalifa, taken by the German photographer Kevin Krautgartner.

In the hotels category, the photo of clean white lodgings, shot in a hotel located in the Greek islands by Sebastien Nagy won first place.

The title "Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020", was awarded to photographer Sebastien Nagy (Belgium, photo), thanks to several awarded photos in different categories and a high average score.

Residing in Brussels, the photographer began aerial photography when he concentrated on the rooftops of his city.

The other awarded photographers are:

Azim Khan Ronnie (Bangladesh): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - Editorial

Brad Walls (Australia): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - People

Cassio Vasconcellos (Brazil): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - Fine art

Cédric Houmadi (France): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - Real estate

Dimitar Karanikolov (Bulgaria): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020 - Fine art

Hua Shang (China): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - Nature

Reginald Van de Velde (Belgium): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020 - Editorial

Sebastian Muller (Switzerland): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020 - Nature

Suirong Huang (Hong Kong): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020, 2nd place - Man-made

Thien Nguyen (Vietnam): Aerial Photographer of the Year 2020 - People

Meet the jury (top from left) Alex Maclean, Daniel Beltr, Abstract Aerial Art; (middle row) Jeffrey Milstein, Elena Buenrostro, Costas Spathis; bottom row) Hulia Boz, Florian Ledoux, Benjamin Grant.