This 12 months’s high honour goes to wildlife photojournalist Britta Jaschinski, whose work is extensively recognised for its highly effective exploration of the connection between people and nature.
Jaschinski’s profitable picture, Handprint on Sea Turtle, highlights the fragility of wildlife but additionally underscores the rising function of science and forensics in defending endangered species and combating wildlife crime.
This pictures reveals a wedge-tailed shearwater surrounded by a football-pitch-sized college of lanternfish within the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Costa Rica. The deep-water lanternfish had been chased up the water column by yellowfin tuna and noticed dolphins. Now, pinned simply beneath the floor, they attracted a military of open ocean predators, from satan rays to dolphins and seabirds. On this event, the defensive education of the fish would sufficiently confuse the wedge-tailed shearwater that it rose again to the floor with out attacking. – Photo Credit: Henley Spiers / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Ocean Category runner-up and Student’s Choice – Up is Down, Arnaud Farré
From June to October, massive numbers of humpback whales collect alongside the west coast of Réunion Island within the Indian Ocean, particularly within the Bay of Saint-Paul, to breed and provides start. Cap La Houssaye marks the southern restrict of the bay and the start line of the marine nature reserve, consisting of 35 sq. kilometres of protected reefs. It is a perfect location for whale watching. Drone flights are prohibited contained in the marine reserve with out prior permission, however this mom and her calf had been noticed simply 200 metres from the seashore, exterior the boundary of the reserve. The mom is diving, adopted by her calf, simply earlier than sundown. Only their flukes (tails) are seen because the pair begins their plunge to the depths, forsaking a round ring referred to as a ‘fluke print’. This placing, uncommon scene illustrates the concord that exists between these marine mammals and the ocean. – Photo Credit: Arnaud Farré / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Ocean Category runner-up – Better than Gold, Shane Gross
A college of bigeye trevally swimming simply off the seashore at daybreak as a storm approaches D’Arros Island, Seychelles. Bigeye trevally are well-liked as sport and meals, and face threats from overfishing and habitat destruction. Here, the fish are massive, and the inhabitants is flourishing as a result of they’re protected inside the no-take marine park. This photograph was taken on task for the Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), which advocated for and now manages the marine protected space. – Photo Credit: Shane Gross / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Forests Category winner – Spirits of the Falls, Arnaud Farré
The Iguazú Falls have the excellence of being cut up between two nations, Argentina and Brazil. They include a system of 275 waterfalls spanning almost three kilometres and are protected by a nationwide park in each nations. On the Argentine facet, Iguazú National Park covers 67,000 hectares. It was created in 1934 to guard one of many nation’s most stunning and most visited pure websites, and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. The park is dwelling to greater than 450 chook species, together with the toco toucan, an iconic chook native to the subtropical forest. It is the biggest species within the toucan household and will be recognized by its lengthy vibrant orange invoice. These birds feed on fruit and inhabit the higher cover. – Photo Credit: Arnaud Farré / Environmental Photography Award 2026
While resting, a feminine puma watches the actions of spider monkeys within the forest cover of Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. In these rainforests, pumas’ diets embody a variety of animals from the forest understory and, once in a while, primates, captured via acrobatic leaps and agile tree climbing. Although the puma is within the Least Concern class on the worldwide IUCN Red List, Central American populations, together with these in Costa Rica, face growing stress from habitat loss and fragmentation, declining prey, and battle with human exercise. On the Osa Peninsula, pumas generally assault livestock, resulting in tensions with ranchers and, in some circumstances, retaliatory killings. – Photo Credit: Luca Eberle / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Keoladeo National Park in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, is a chook sanctuary that shelters many migratory birds in winter and a few native birds through the breeding interval. January is a really chilly month, typically accompanied by mist and fog. Over the 30 years I [Hira Punjabi] have been going to this reserve, I’ve typically noticed birds attacking snakes and monitor lizards that prey on their eggs. This time, I used to be fortunate sufficient to get it on digital camera: I had been observing the identical dry tree for 4 days when, one morning, a pair of parakeets, accompanied by about 10 different parakeets, attacked a number of lizards. The assault lasted about an hour. – Photo Credit: Hira Punjabi / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Humanity vs Nature Category runner-up – Conservation vs Tourism, Peter McGee
Feeding wild animals is a contentious subject in marine conservation. In Oslob within the Philippines, endangered whale sharks are fed every day by vacationers flocking to see them. The observe generates financial advantages for native communities and gives an incentive to guard endangered whale sharks from deadly fishing and finning practices. While laws are in place to minimise human contact and feeding instances, issues stay concerning the long-term impression on the sharks’ pure behaviour, migration patterns and total well being.
Changemakers Category runner-up – Curlew Man, Morgan Heim
Wildlife conservation must embrace the massive silly concepts, says Matt Trevelyan, who in April 2024 turned a viral sensation after deciding to decorate up as a human-sized Eurasian curlew and stroll throughout his county in Nidderdale, England, a whopping 53 miles over one weekend. By day, Trevelyan works on curlew conservation for the Nidderdale National Landscape. But if he had his druthers, he’d turn into a curlew. Trevelyan is a classically educated clown, grasp puppeteer and Buddhist. This photograph was taken as we [Morgan Heim and team] started filming him for a documentary about his efforts to guard Eurasian curlews, which has simply seen its shut cousin, the slender-billed curlew go extinct. While the issues for wildlife will be dire, the efforts to avoid wasting them can encourage pleasure. Conservation deserves to generally be a spectacle, says Trevelyan. – Photo Credit: Morgan Heim / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Changemakers Category runner-up – Insects, Architects of a Sustainable Future, Maud Delaflotte
With 80 per cent of biodiversity loss and 30 per cent of greenhouse fuel emissions linked to our meals methods, insect protein is quickly gaining consideration as a sustainable various to conventional sources like fishmeal and soy. Sourced primarily from black soldier fly larvae, it presents robust potential to be used in animal diet. This photograph reveals a researcher accumulating black soldier fly eggs inside an aviary in France. – Photo Credit: Maud Delaflotte / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Polar Regions Category winner – The Gathering, Vadim Makhorov
The Pacific walrus is the biggest species of walrus – males can attain as much as 4 metres in size and weigh as a lot as 1.5 tons. This {photograph} reveals a walrus haulout on Ratmanov Island, on the maritime border between Russia and the United States. The whole southern shoreline of the island is occupied by walruses, most of them males. Females solely come ashore through the breeding season. They could seem motionless on land, however are quick and agile within the water. Understanding how they use the shoreline helps preserve encounters protected for each wildlife and folks. – Photo Credit: Vadim Makhorov / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Polar Regions Category runner-up – The Explorers, Panos Laskarakis
This polar bear mom and cub appear to be skilled explorers on this mountainous area of the Svalbard archipelago. The steep slope is a problem for the child polar bear within the deep snow through the foggy climate. Polar bear cubs stroll instantly behind their mom to preserve power, preserve heat and journey safely. This behaviour is important for survival, as they journey lengthy distances, generally over 100km, from dens to sea ice. This shot was taken from an icebreaker round 500 metres away utilizing a telephoto lens, in accordance with new, stricter guidelines governing the filming and commentary of animals in Svalbard, to stop them from being disturbed (the minimal distance from polar bears is 300 to 500 metres, relying on the month). – Photo Credit: Panos Laskarakis / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Polar Regions Category runner-up – Penguin Feast, Lucas Bustamante
The brown skua (or Antarctic skua) and McCormick’s skua, nest in colonies on snow-free, rocky shores in Antarctica throughout their breeding season. While they feed totally on fish and krill, in addition they prey on the eggs and chicks of different seabirds, significantly penguins, when these birds nest on the mainland from October to March. With their sharp, hawk-like beaks and small talons on the ideas of their webbed ft, they’re formidable predators. In this photograph, two brown skuas are preventing over a penguin chick that was snatched whereas nonetheless alive from its colony. – Photo Credit: Lucas Bustamante / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Public Award – Koalas are Dying for You to Slow Down, Doug Gimesy
With koalas typically crossing roads to entry meals, mates or shelter, street trauma is unfortunately a serious risk to this iconic Australian species. Vehicle strikes should not only a conservation subject, they’re an enormous wildlife welfare subject, leading to crippling accidents comparable to fractured jaws, damaged limbs, or spinal harm. Whilst just a few could also be discovered, rescued and handled, many crawl off into the bush to die, or dwell on with accidents and in ache. – Photo Credit: Doug Gimesy / Environmental Photography Award 2026
Environmental Photographer 2026 and Changemakers Category winner – Handprint on Sea Turtle, Britta Jaschinski
This picture demonstrates a way for securing forensic proof that may assist to catch poachers and animal traffickers. Special fluorescent powder dyes, photographed below ultraviolet mild, reveal handprints and fingerprints, blood and different bodily fluids, gunpowder residue, and extra. Wildlife forensic knowledgeable Alexandra Thomas from Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and Louise Gibson from the Wildlife Crime and Forensics Unit of the Zoological Society of London are growing such strategies to help regulation enforcement. Six of the world’s seven sea turtle species are categorised as threatened, endangered or critically endangered because of human persecution, habitat destruction and marine air pollution. – Photo Credit: Britta Jaschinski / Environmental Photography Award 2026