20 Winners Of World Nature Photography Awards

The Grand prize, category winners and finalists of the World Nature Photography Awards (WNPA), chosen from thousands of entries from 48 countries across six continents, have been announced.

From the image above of a polar bear’s pure joy to that of tens of thousands coastal birds forced into flight by an incoming high tide and the amusing moment of a tiny lizard checking out a snoozing lion, this year’s winners of the World Nature Photography awards reflect spectacular moments of life on our precious and endangered planet.

The Word Nature Photographer Of The Year top award and cash prize of $1,000 went to Slovenian photographer Maruša Puhek for her shot ‘Run’ showing two deer running through a vineyard in her country.

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“Seeing these images cannot fail to motivate one to do everything to protect this fragile planet of ours,” said Adrian Dinsdale, co-founder of the WNPAs.

Each year, the WNPA winners remind us of the amazing world that we call home. Their work forces us to reconsider our actions and do everything possible to preserve our precious planet for future generations.

The World Nature Photography Awards were founded in 2020, in the belief that “we can all help shape the future of our planet in a positive way and that photography can influence people to see the world from a different perspective and take steps, no matter how small, to save the planet for future generations.”

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Images from both this year’s and previous years’ winners are available to purchase as wall art, and the WNPA will plant a tree for every piece sold.

Word Nature Photography Of The Year Top Prize

“It was a snowy day and I only had a wide-angle lens with me when I spotted two deer running through the snowy vineyard,” said Marusa Puhek. “I took a few shots, frustrated that I didn’t have a telephoto lens with me. Only later, while editing, did I realise how lucky I was; the scene wasn’t overly zoomed in, allowing the snowy surroundings to remain an essential part of the composition.”

Nature Photography Category Winners and Finalists

The image was taken at Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe at one of the pools that gives the area its name just as the sun was going down, imparting this beautiful golden light. Suddenly, this fight broke out between two of the large male hippos, tossing water in the air. It only lasted a few seconds and all was quiet again.

A fox cub jumps across a gap between logs in a pile, in Lac La Biche, Alberta, Canada. “I had been observing a family of foxes that were close to my home,” Donna Feledichuk explains. “A family had taken residence in a log pile. There was one spot in particular where the light from the setting sun filtered through the trees, providing a soft rim light to the foxes. While the foxes ran up and down the logs playing, I remained focused on that spot waiting to capture a special image. It took many evenings but finally a kit jumped in that spot when the light was perfect.”

A macro photograph provides a portrait of two brilliantly colored Lanternflies, their bodies adorned with a symphony of vibrant greens, oranges and yellows, perched on the textured bark of a tree.

Perched on a frozen branch, a Kingfish observes its white surroundings in Norfolk, England.

“I have been photographing Kingfishers in the U.K. for many years, traveling the length and breadth of the U.K. in search of these beautiful subjects,” said Vince Burton. “One day, searching in my local village of North Tuddenham in Norfolk, I caught a flash of blue — not just any blue, but an electric, almost iridescent blue, as a kingfisher flew down the river.”

Entitled “The Safari Beauty,” this portrait of a guinea fowl was taken in Tanzania as it was perched on a tree branch curiously observing those who passed by.

A Flower Praying Mantis perches gracefully on a mushroom. The distinctive appearance of the mantis, with its its elongated limbs, carefully adapted camouflage and vibrant colors, juxtaposed against the unique form of the Cordyceps mushroom, creates an otherworldly atmosphere reminiscent of alien creatures.

This blue-spotted mudskipper leaps in the air, offering a territorial display. These irascible fish live on the intertidal mudflats of Roebuck Bay in Broome, Western Australia.

A female Agama lizard stops for a closer look at a dozing lion in Tanzania’s Serengeti.

“While I was watching and waiting for this male lion to wake up, I noticed a female agama lizard moving closer to the lion and, to my surprise, make contact with his nose as she tried to catch a fly on his face,” sasid Jules Oldroyd. “Luckily, the lion didn’t react but I was amazed at the chutzpah that I had witnessed.

I waited in the hope of trying to capture this behavior if she returned, which it did. The agama inched forward moving closer to the sleeping lion and stopped inches away from its face. Unfortunately, this time there were no flies to feed so she scampered off. It was a fascinating and brave behavior to witness. It might not have been the image that I was originally looking for but arguably this is a more striking image of one of the kings of the Serengeti and the little lizard.”

This coalition of five cheetah had crossed the border from the reserve earlier that day. “We waited for several hours as they lined up a young hartebeest before tagging it in a shallow flooded pan,” recalled Paul Goldstein. “We drove to the nearest dry grass and waited, gambling on them dragging it there to feed,”

“This image is not taken by a drone. They are rightfully, and thankfully, banned in these priceless conservancies.”

Those Amazing Birds

Tens of thousands of red knots and other coastal waders were forced into flight from the remaining gravel bars and mudflats by a high incoming spring tide.

Two white-cheeked terns fight for territory in the heart of Kubbar Island, Kuwait, where the summer sun blazes relentlessly. Suspended in mid-air, one bird thrusts its sharp beak into the chest of its rival in a fierce display of dominance — reminiscent of a sword piercing through armor.

Kubbar Island is renowned for its large breeding colonies of terns during the summer months. These agile seabirds build their nests on elevated patches of bare ground or amid sparse grass, offering no shelter from the scorching heat. Despite the harsh conditions, they fiercely defend their nesting sites, ensuring the survival of the next generation.

In the most unlikely of places, where the grit of human industry meets the grace of nature, lies a story of resilience and coexistence. This image captures the striking contrast between a colossal fuel depot in Mandinari, Gambia, and a male Pin-tailed Whydah in full breeding plumage. “I would love for this image to encourage people to explore birding in Gambia, helping to boost eco-tourism in this beautiful region,” writes Benjamin Smail.

A Great Gray owl flies over a road in front of a car in California.

Owls prefer to hunt small rodents in low light. Food scraps scattered along the roadside attract rodents, which in turn draw owls to hunt them. When owls hunt, they focus and fly very low. As a result, they’re at higher risk from vehicle collisions during autumn and winter, when people commute to and from work in the dark. Fortunately, this one made it to the other side of the road just in time.

Situated in Southern Louisiana, Atchafalaya is among the worlds largest remaining wetland swamps. The brackish waters are ideal for bald cypress trees that serve as habitat for countless birds and an array of amphibians, reptiles and mammals. This great white egret took off into the first light of a spring morning.

Smallest Creatures

Sometimes, the most compelling stories unfold in the background. Niki Colemont was photographing another subject in a garden in Belgium when, she spotted a robber fly and a spider lurking ominously nearby. “For the next 30 minutes, I observed nature’s quiet drama,” she says. “Finally, the spider made its move, and I captured the moment.”

A photogenic female blue-tailed damselfly pictured just walking up over a daisy in Britain’s Cotswold Water Park.

Humans And Nature

This photograph captures fishermen harvesting anchovies off the coast of Phu Yen in Vietnam. Amid this tranquil beauty, an undercurrent of concern adds depth to the moment. The issue of overfishing, even on this seemingly small scale, looms large, casting a shadow over the delicate balance of marine ecosystems. This scene reminds us of our interconnectedness with nature and our responsibility to act as stewards of the earth.

“Upon returning to my tent after a safari in the Okavango Delta (Botswana), I found a wild leopard had jumped up on my deck and decided to take a nap on the day bed,” John Edwards says. “He was no more than 10 feet from me when I took this photograph from inside my room. The only thing separating us was a screen and wooden slats. He was there for about three hours until local baboons chased him away. There were only two challenges with this shot: getting the focus right through the screen and not being killed by the leopard!”

The chained ankles of an Asian elephant employed by anti-poaching authorities in Bardiya National Park, Nepal.

It stands with her front two legs chained together, while her daughter was chained mere meters away but without the two being able to touch. For their own ‘protection’ from the wild elephants in the forest, these elephants spend the majority of their lives in this position, only being released for a few short hours to be ridden around on patrol.

While humans using elephants to patrol no doubt provides a crucial force against the poaching of species such as the Bengal tiger, the irony of enslaving one species to protect another should not be lost on any of us.

Submissions for the WNPA 2026 are open and accepted in digital format only.

See all the winners and finalists of the World Nature Photography Awards here.

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