The topflight annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition presents a sneak peek of its 61st event this week, although for divers only two of the 15 highly commended images released reflect the underwater world.
However, for three of the past four years the Grand Title winner has been an underwater photographer – Shane Gross from Canada in 2024 and Frenchman Laurent Ballesta in 2021 and 2023.
The 2025 contest and subsequent exhibition will spotlight 100 winning wildlife images, selected from what organiser London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) says was a record-breaking 60,636 entries.
The photographs are judged anonymously for creativity, originality and technical excellence by an international panel of expert judges working in wildlife photography, film-making, science and conservation.
Hanging from a tree
The previewed underwater images were both captured by US photographers: Isaac Szabo and Ralph Pace.
Szabo’s Fragile River of Life, highly commended in the Wetlands: The Bigger Picture category, depicts longnose gars during mating season in a Florida river. Wrapping his feet around a sunken tree, Isaac photographed the prominent female with several males, while the turtle he said offered the “icing on the cake” by providing “a sense of the whole ecosystem”.
The river is one of more than 1,000 waterways fed by clear freshwater springs, vital not only for wildlife such as gars and manatees but for providing drinking water for nearly half of Florida.
Pace’s Jelly Smack Summer, highly commended in the Underwater category, was taken from the middle of a mass – known as a ‘smack’ – of Pacific sea nettles in Monterey Bay, California.
In an effort to protect himself from the painful bee-like stings from the jellyfishes’ trailing tentacles, Pace had smeared petroleum jelly on any flesh not covered by his wetsuit.
Highly adaptable to warming seas, jellyfish are turning up in larger numbers, he says, with some biologists arguing that more frequent smacks are a sign of rising ocean temperatures – though the removal of predators and competitors through overfishing is another factor.
Powerful platform
“Now in its 61st year, we are thrilled to continue Wildlife Photographer of the Year as a powerful platform for visual storytelling, showing the diversity, beauty and complexity of the natural world and humanity’s relationship to it,” says NHM director Dr Doug Gurr.
“With the inclusion of our Biodiversity Intactness Index [BII], this year’s exhibition will be our best combination of great artistry and groundbreaking science yet, helping visitors to become inspired to be advocates for our planet.”
The BII, which measures how much of a region’s natural biodiversity remains on a scale of 0 to 100%, has been adopted as an official Global Framework Biodiversity indicator for decision-making.
Photo competition winners and the Grand and Young Grand title awards will be announced on 14 October, at a ceremony hosted at the museum by wildlife TV presenters and conservationists Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin. It can be watched live on the NHM YouTube channel.
Tickets are already on sale for the 61st exhibition of winning images, which runs at the museum from 17 October until 12 July, 2026. The show will also go on a UK and international tour.
Enter next year’s contest
The 62nd Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition opens for entries on 20 October and closes on 4 December, 2025.
Photographers aged 27 and above pay a £35 fee to enter up to 25 images, but those aged 18-26 can enter up to 25 images for free, and those aged 17 and under can enter up to 10 without charge.
Entrants from 114 specified countries across Africa, South-east Asia and South America can also enter the competition for free.
