Wildlife Photographer of the Year is an annual international wildlife photography competition staged by the Natural History Museum in London, England. There is an exhibition of the winning and commended images each year at the museum, which later tours around the world. The event has been described as the most prestigious wildlife photography competition in the world.

It was known as BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 1990 to 2003, and briefly as Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Kodak Wildlife Photographer of the Year and Prudential Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The first competition was held in 1964, with three categories and around 600 entries. In 2008 the competition received over 32,000 entries from 3100 photographers in 82 countries.

A book of winning entries and runners-up has been published each year since 1992, with two books being published in 1994 (the first three volumes were published the year after the corresponding competitions were held). Early volumes have become quite collectable.

Competition

A maximum of 25 images ranging from intimate animal portraits to atmospheric landscapes, ground-breaking photojournalism to innovative technique can be submitted once a year, in 12-17 permanent and alternate categories. Since 2003 the grand prize has been selected from among the winning images of the categories and has been awarded to a single image in adult and young competition too. The photographer aged 17 and under submitting the best image receives the title "The Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year", while the author of the best image over 17 years of age becomes "The Wildlife Photographer of the Year". (This award has never been won in adult category more than once.) The deadline of submission of the images is around late February, and the results become public in mid-October.

The winning images are selected from among approximately 50,000 entries received from nearly 100 countries in a three-round judging process. The awards ceremony takes place in the Natural History Museum in London. On the same day, the latest Wildlife Photographer of the Year portfolio, introducing the winning images, is published. Following the awards ceremony, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition opens in London before touring worldwide throughout the year, attracting more than 5 million visitors.

Categories

Photographers can enter their images into a range of categories, whose criteria are mostly based on the subject matter of the images. There are also 3 categories for under 18's, and 3 special awards. The number and name of categories changes nearly every year. In each category a winning, runner-up and several highly commended images are usually chosen, although sometimes the judges will not choose a winner or runner up in a particular category if they deem the standard of entries not to be high enough. The categories in the 2016 competition were as follows: Mammals Birds Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes Invertebrates Plants and Fungi Underwater On Land In the Skies Urban Detail Impressions Black and White Wildlife Photojournalist: Single Image Wildlife Photojournalist: Photo Story Award Rising Star Portfolio Award (ages 18 to 25) Wildlife Photographer Portfolio Award (ages 26 and over)

2009 controversy

The overall 2009 competition winner, José Luis Rodriguez, was stripped of his award and his £10,000 prize following allegations from rival Spanish photographers that his picture of an Iberian wolf leaping a cattle-pen in Ávila had been staged, using a captive animal to do so. The jury opened an investigation and ultimately disqualified it. He was also prohibited from entering the competition for life. It was, however, too late to remove the image from the accompanying book. There was much controversy as to the legitimacy of such claims, which, some say, were not backed by evidence but by skepticism from some experts and the jury itself. Eduardo Suárez: Retiran el premio a la foto del lobo del español José Luis Rodríguez - 20 January 2010 - El Mundo.es (in English: "The jury has concluded that it is probable that the wolf of the image was a model animal that could be hired for photographical purposes"). Manolo Toledo: la foto del lobo de José Luis Rodríguez, cuestionada - 22 December 2010 - Xataka foto (in English: Some talk about envy, others talk about fraud).

Grand title winners + Grand title winners of Wildlife Photographer of the Year from 1984 Year Competition Winner Photograph Country2025Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025Wim van den HeeverGhost Town Visitor South Africa2024Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024Shane GrossThe Swarm of Life Canada2023Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023Laurent BallestaThe Golden Horseshoe France 2022 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 Karine Aigner The Big Buzz USA 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 Laurent Ballesta Creation France 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 Sergey Gorshkov The Embrace Russia 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2019 Bao Yongqing The Moment China 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 Marsel van OostenThe golden couple Netherlands 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 Brent StirtonMemorial to a species South Africa 2016 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 Tim LamanEntwined lives USA 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2015 Don GutoskiA tale of two foxes Canada 2014 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 Michael "Nick" NicholsThe last great picture USA 2013 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 Greg du ToitEssence of Elephants South Africa 2012 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2012 Paul Nicklen Bubble-jetting Emperors Canada 2011 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2011 Daniel Beltrá Still life in oil Spain 2010 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 Bence Máté A marvel of ants Hungary 2009 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 José Luis Rodríguez (disqualified) The storybook wolf Spain 2008 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008 Steve WinterSnowstorm leopard USA 2007 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 Ben Osborne Elephant creation UK 2006 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2006 Göran Ehlmé Beast of the sediment Sweden 2005 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2005 Manuel Presti Sky chase Italy 2004 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2004 Doug Perrine Bronze whalers charging a baitball USA 2003 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2003 Gerhard Schulz Gorilla and boy Germany 2002 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2002 Angie Scott African elephant family watching a grey heron Kenya 2001 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2001 Tobias Bernhard Grey reef shark Germany 2000 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2000 Manoj Shah Orang-utan and baby Kenya / UK 1999 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1999 Jamie Thom Leopard with rising moon South Africa 1998 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1998 Manfred Danegger Boxing hares Germany 1997 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1997 Tapani Räsänen Common tern fishing Finland 1996 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1996 Jason Venus Badger running UK 1995 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1995 Cherry Alexander Blue iceberg, Antarctica UK 1994 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1994 Thomas D MangelsenPolar bear and arctic fox USA 1993 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1993 Martyn Colbeck Bull elephant dusting UK 1992 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1992 André Bärtschi Red and green macaws Liechtenstein 1991 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1991 Frans Lanting Portfolio of 10 Images Netherlands 1990 BG Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1990 Wendy Shattil Red fox cub USA 1989 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1989 Jouni Ruuskanen Red-throated diver Finland 1988 Kodak Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1988 Jim Brandenburg Gemsbok in the Namib desert, Namibia USA 1987 Prudential Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1987 Jonathan Scott Wild dog immobilising wildebeest UK 1986 Prudential Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1986 Rajesh Bedi Himalayan black bear India 1985 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1985 Charles Summers Young cheetah coming to grips with its first springbok USA 1984 Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1984 Richard Kemp and Julia Kemp Diving goosander UK

The full list Full available database from 1984 on