21 Winners Of Nature Photographer Of The Year

Awe-inspiring wildlife portraits, surreal views of flowers as seen by an ant, dramatic encounters within the wild and tender animal moments make up the profitable photos of the Nature Photographer of the Year 2025 competitors—one of many world’s most prestigious nature and wildlife pictures contests.

Celebrating the fantastic thing about nature pictures, this yr’s contest set a brand new report with 24,781 photograph submissions from photographers throughout 96 international locations competing in 12 classes and, as properly, for the Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award.

Such magnificence is properly represented by the above picture, entitled “A Curious Nose” by South African photographer Laura Dyer, which was Highly Commended within the Mammals class and showcases one of the vital elusive and memorable African animals, an aardvark.

Mostly nocturnal creatures, aardvarks are notoriously tough to identify and much more to {photograph} as they emerge below the quilt of darkness to seek for ants and termites, of which they will eat as much as 50,000 in a single evening.

Feeding at evening permits them to really feel safer as they’re more durable then to identify by predators in opposition to whom their solely protection is a fast retreat into their burrow or a battle with their very sharp claws.

Using these lengthy ears, aardvarks pay attention intently to the underground exercise of bugs that they then dig out with their claws.

Competition and Prizes

Open to each newbie {and professional} photographers, the Nature Photographer of the Year competitors awards a €3,000 grand prize to the general winner and €500 plus photograph gear to every class winner.

Organized by Nature Talks, the group behind the annual Nature Talks Photo Festival within the Netherlands, the competitors additionally helps conservation initiatives by means of partnerships with teams resembling Photographers Against Wildlife Crime.

The Nature Photographer of the Year

Norwegian photographer Åsmund Keilen earned the 2025 prime honor with a wide ranging picture capturing a lone chook silhouetted in opposition to a glowing summer season solar.

At first look, the {photograph} seems nearly summary — like leaves drifting throughout a cosmic sky. But a better look reveals every form as a chook in movement.

Competition chairman Tin Man Lee praised the profitable picture: “The photographer’s impeccable timing captured a single bird perfectly aligned with the glowing sun, creating a dreamlike moment suspended between stillness and motion. With its ethereal colors, perfect balance, and otherworldly atmosphere, the image feels both timeless and universal.”

Nature Photographer of the Year 2026 Opens Soon

Submissions for the Nature Photographer of the Year 2026 competitors will open on December 8, 2025, inviting photographers worldwide to showcase their finest work.

Overall Winner

Impression of a mirrored image – or a mirrored image of an impression? The photograph was taken simply outdoors Oslo on a scorching summer season day as small orange birch seeds had fallen onto the blue roof of Åsmund Keilen’s automotive through the evening, and the summer season solar mirrored alongside dancing frequent swifts within the sky. Freedom appeared to take type in chaos.

Amazing Animal’s Portraits, Mammals

“Beneath the lush canopy of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, I observed a young female mountain gorilla from the Binyindo family gently nestled against the protective bulk of a silverback,” says Mary Schrader. “The atmosphere was serene, filled with the soft sounds of the forest, until a sudden burst of delicate color broke through the calm.

“An unexpected vibrant butterfly, appeared out of nowhere, fluttering through the air. Captivated, the young gorilla’s eyes widened, and a beautiful interaction began to unfold. At the fleeting moment, when wild strength met fragile beauty, I pressed the shutter. A rare and precious encounter that united them in a shared world of curiosity, wonder and discovery.”

“The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park lies in a semi-arid environment and can be very dry, with only a few thundershowers per year,” famous Willem Kruger. “This image was taken during a very dry season when, as a result, we saw several small birds arriving in flocks at the waterhole to drink.

“One early morning a pride of lions approached the waterhole and as they moved closer, the birds kept coming, landing briefly on the edge of the water before taking off again. The lioness in the photo kept a watchful eye on the birds, as lions are natural hunters and anything that moves interests them. However, she made no attempt to catch or chase them away.”

Ilse Koks is a KLM flight attendant who flies around the globe — and by no means forgets to pack her digicam. “During a layover in Johannesburg,” she recollects, “I made a short trip to Madikwe Game Reserve with plans to focus on long-exposure photography to create more artistic wildlife images.

“After an unsuccessful safari, on the way back to Johannesburg, we suddenly came across a herd of elephants. It felt like one last chance to put my long-exposure plan into practice. I moved my camera in sync with the curves of the tusks to emphasize them even more. The slow shutter broke the elephant’s shape into angular, fragmented forms, making it look like a Cubist painting.”

Polar bears confront critical issues from local weather change — not least, the melting of sea ice. “Bears rely on ice to hunt seals, and when the ice disappears during the Arctic summer, many are stranded onshore and unable to hunt.

“This polar bear was observed far north on Svalbard in May, where it had been fortunate to catch a walrus. Preying on a walrus is rare and difficult for polar bears, but in this case, the walrus was likely sick or disabled. The bear appears content and relaxed beside its prey.

Although the scene may seem slightly humorous, ti also highlights serious concerns for the future of polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem.”

Tomasz Szpila finds that a lot of Africa’s most fascinating animals are its smallest warriors: “Among them, the honey badger has earned a reputation for unmatched courage and determination. Despite its modest size, this fearless predator can fend off much larger adversaries, often attacking with surprising aggression and stamina.

Protected by exceptionally tough skin and a natural resistance to bites and stings, honey badgers can survive encounters that would doom most other animals. Yet, as with all creatures, youth and inexperience can tip the scales, making young individuals especially vulnerable to apex predators such as lions.

The rare confrontation in the image happened an early morning on the open plains near Lake Ndutu, in the southern Serengeti ecosystem. The young lion, had managed to corner a honey badger. At first glance, the scene appeared almost playful: the lion pawing, circling, and testing its opponent, as if enjoying a game. The honey badger summoned all its strength and ferocity in a desperate attempt to resist.

The young lion, however, held the advantage in both size and stamina and the outcome was clear. The lion prevailed, asserting dominance over one of Africa’s most resilient fighters.”

Eastern France’s Vosges mountain vary affords the reward that retains on giving to Radomir Jakubowski. “The chamois that live there have long been my favorite subject. In this particular morning, conditions seemed to work against a good shot, until the sun broke through.

“Thick high fog lay over the mountains, the air was damp, the grasses along the path dripped with dew and the light appeared flat. Yet these very conditions transformed the landscape into a golden dreamscape.

When I spotted a young chamois on a rocky outcrop, I deliberately chose to include the foreground, with the chamois standing sharply outlined against the backlight while the dew-laden foreground glows with a fairytale shimmer — a reminder that nature photography often finds its greatest power in embracing the unplanned.”

Nature Photographer Of Other Animals

Bird Island is a tiny, two-kilometer-wide, coral sand island within the Seychelles. “The island is privately owned, and thanks to the efforts of its caretakers, the last rat, introduced by humans, was eradicated in the 1980s,” explains Bence Máté. “Combined with controlled vegetation management, the island now is home to more than 700,000 pairs of sooty terns.

“A distress call caught my attention: A struggling chick, lying defenseless on the ground, was swarmed by crabs that began devouring it alive. In no time, nearly ten crabs had surrounded the chick, dragging it into the bushes, one of nature’s rawest moments.”

After not showing for many years, in 2012 the endangered Danube mayfly instantly reappeared within the Danube River, a possible beneficiary of higher water high quality after water air pollution had pressured its departure from Central European rivers.

“The summer of 2024 will undoubtedly be remembered as this year’s season for the insect,” says Imre Potyó. “One massive swarm of Danube mayflies approached the illuminated city of Szentendre, Hungary. Drawn by the city lights, millions of insects swarmed last summer, overwhelming street lamps along the Danube promenade.

“Dense clouds of mayflies also engulfed restaurants, vendors, wine bars, and concerts, creating both an unmissable and alarming spectacle. The insects circled the lights for hours, unable to escape, before falling to the asphalt, where they perished.”

Nature Art In Black And White And Color

Sebastiaan van der Greef captured this picture whereas his household was on a ship plying the Arctic waters surrounding Svalbard, Norway. “On the final days of our voyage, we set foot on land in search of the elusive Arctic fox,” he recollects “One afternoon, we spotted a lone figure climbing a shallow ridge, a solitary brushstroke of white against the dark rock.”

Paul Eijkemans took this {photograph} Marsa Shagra, Egypt, in a well-protected bay. “I spotted the Starry Puffer on an early afternoon dive,” he explains. “It was an unusually large puffer. When I approached it, I saw that it was being cleaned by a cleaning wrasse and although the picture was shot in color, it looks like a black-and-white image.”

Through the years, Pål Hermansen arrange a number of cameras with infrared sensors not removed from his southern Norway house, inserting them alongside trails the place animals move.

“On this January night,” he says, “a heavy snow blizzard swept through and a moose passed. I feel the rough quality of the image suits the mood perfectly.”

Knut-Sverre Horn “thought the guillemot was about to die when I found it lying still on the ground, partly covered in blood running from its right eye, on Hornøya, Varanger, Northern Norway. The drops of blood made a striking contrast against the dark brown and white feathers.

“I kneeled down and took a few photos when the bird suddenly took flight. It was apparently able to see me with its left eye. I don’t know what caused the injury, but guillemots may fight fiercely, and I have also seen them collide mid-air when they circle the colony in huge swarms.”

Young Nature Photographers

Chamathki Fernando was 15 when he was “deep inside Kumana National Park on the southeastern coast of Sri Lanka one quiet evening, patiently waiting by a waterhole after hearing a sudden alarm call, a likely sign that a leopard was nearby.

“But just as the sun bathed the landscape in golden light, something entirely unexpected drew my focus away: a cluster of tiny frogs, glistening like bronze beads, perched on the back of a water buffalo.

“The small and agile paddy field frogs were calmly resting on the broad, bristled back of a half-submerged buffalo. Like a scene from a fable, these frogs, like Lilliputians, had found refuge on their own living giant, another example of peaceful coexistence and of a subtle, almost comical partnership between two wildly different species.”

Short-eared owls perch on a sunflower at nightfall, within the plains close to Valladolid, Spain through the summer season season when each grownup and juvenile owls assemble after the breeding season.

“The sunflowers offered excellent visibility and natural camouflage to the owls, which are usually associated with open natural areas but have also showed a remarkable ability to adapt to agricultural landscapes, making effective use of farmland when prey is abundant,” explains Andres Luis Dominguez Blanco.

Nature, Animals And The Human Factor

Lana Tannir says: “Harbor porpoises are small, elusive cetaceans found in coastal waters across the Northern Hemisphere. They rely on echolocation to navigate, communicate, and hunt. However, populations in many regions are declining due to human impacts such as underwater noise, pollution, overfishing, and bycatch in fishing nets.

“At 30 years old, Freja is the most studied and oldest recorded Harbor Porpoise in the world. Since 1997, she has lived at Fjord & Bælt, a research facility in Kerteminde, Denmark, after being caught in a fisherman’s net and deemed non-releasable.

“Freja participates in non-invasive behavioral experiments such as this one, in which her eyes are covered with suction cups while she is asked to discriminate between two underwater targets, one made of aluminum and the other of plastic. A DTAG monitoring device on her back records her acoustic responses.

“Through these studies, scientists aim to understand how harbor porpoises use echolocation to hunt and how underwater noise affects their foraging abilities. Such research helps guide conservation strategies to support the survival of these elusive marine mammals in the wild.”

Mara North Conservancy within the better Maasai Mara reserve gives a beautiful array of wildlife, says Richard Peters. “As a large digger was left parked in the central road following recent maintenance work, a curious elephant decided to give it a closer look.

“Combined with the soft glow of a sunset sky, the moment was a beautiful way of showing how wildlife and humans coexist in this area.”

From An Ant’s Perspective

What would an ant see if it regarded up whereas strolling by means of a discipline of flowers? Or a ladybird resting for a second on the stem of a flower? How unbelievable wouldn’t it be when you might {photograph} this view.

When an extended, slim, wide-angle macro lens that may rotate 360 levels got here onto the market, photographer Theo Bosboom noticed a chance to make that dream a actuality: “It was as if I had been given the key to a wonderful secret world.”

The ever-surprising views made Bosboom fall below the spell of flowers that for this profitable venture he exhibits in a very new method, the emphasis rather more on the lifetime of the flowers and the habitats they’re a part of.

Yet, Bosboom was alarmed by the small variety of bugs he encountered. In locations the place there needs to be nice insect exercise, it was typically eerily silent.

Both flowers and bugs have been in critical decline in Western Europe (and lots of different international locations) in latest a long time because of intensive agriculture, urbanization and ever-expanding infrastructure, amongst different components.

This is a really critical risk to biodiversity, as a result of there’s a complicated ecosystem that wildflower meadows assist.

Fortunately, there have additionally been optimistic developments, resembling the brand new mowing and verge administration practices adopted by many municipalities within the Netherlands in recent times, with a lot better consideration to wildflowers and bugs.

The subsequent version of the Nature Photographer Of The Year contest for 2026 will open on December 8, 2025.

MORE FROM FORBES

ForbesAmazing Nature In 21 Photos Shortlisted For Close-Up Photographer Of The YearBy Cecilia RodriguezForbesWildlife Photographer Of The Year 2025: 18 Winning Photos From London’s Natural History MuseumBy Cecilia RodriguezForbesWinter In Europe: Top 10 Fairy-Tale European Christmas Markets, Per New SurveyBy Cecilia RodriguezForbesWinter In Europe: Top 10 Fairy-Tale European Christmas Markets, Per New SurveyBy Cecilia Rodriguez