The winners of the Natural History Museum’s annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition will soon be announced, with an exhibition of winning images set to open on October 13, 2023, in London. 100 photographs by entrants from all across the globe, showcasing striking and unique looks at some of the world’s most amazing creatures will be on display.
Now in its 59th year, the annual wildlife photography competition received nearly 50,000 submissions from 95 countries, with photographers spanning all ages and experience levels. across various categories, such as animal portraits, photojournalism, behavior, natural artistry, and under water, as well as age-related categories, such as 10-years-old and under.
Ahead of the October exhibit, the Natural History Museum has released a shortlist of “highly commended” images from several categories. Among them we see a snow leopard hunting a Pallas’s cat (Donglin Zhou), a mason bee mid-flight as it builds a nest (Solvin Zankl), or a very unusual animal interaction of a macaque jumping on the back of a deer (Atsuyuki Ohshima).
‘What most impressed the jury was the range of subjects, from absolute beauty, rarely seen behaviors and species to images that are stark reminders of what we are doing to the natural world,’ says Kathy Moran, Chair of the judging panel. ‘We felt a powerful tension between wonder and woe that we believe came together to create a thought-provoking collection of photographs.’
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition winners will be announced on October 10, 2023, at an awards ceremony ahead of the exhibit’s public opening. The exhibit will run from October 13, 2023 through June 30, 2024, at the Natural History Museum in London, after which the exhibit will move to a traveling exhibit, touring the UK and internationally. Tickets for the upcoming exhibit in October are on sale now and can be purchased here.
DPReview has compiled a gallery of these photos, in addition to the captions from the judging panel as well as the photo equipment used to capture them.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. Submissions for next year’s competition will open for entries on October 16, 2023, and run until December 7, 2023. For all the details about how to enter, see the competition page.