2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year (61st Edition) presents a breathtaking visual feast of nature. Organized by London’s Natural History Museum, this year’s competition selected 100 award-winning works from a record-breaking 60,636 submissions, creating an encyclopedic visual archive of Earth’s life.
Key Highlights
- Record Scale: Entries surpassed 60,000 for the first time, covering global ecosystems
- Thematic Depth: Images like hyenas in mining ruins reveal coexistence/conflict between humans and nature
- Technical Innovation: Works like orb-weavers under car lights showcase micro-ecology’s surreal beauty
- Exhibition Upgrade: Online gallery and physical exhibition (until July 12, 2026) launched simultaneously
Representative Winning Works
1. Ghost Miners (Wim van den Heever)
- Brown hyenas wandering Namibia’s abandoned diamond mines
- Surreal dialogue between industrial ruins and wild life
2. Prisoners of Light (Simone Baumeister)
- Orb-weaver spiderweb glowing in car headlight dispersion
- Natural geometry redefined by artificial light
3. Deadly Allure (Chien Lee)
- Pitcher plant capturing insects in macro dynamics
- Botanical predation mechanism in extreme close-up
4. Dawn Sentinels (Luca Lorenz)
- African wild dogs alert in morning mist
- Masterclass in group behavior composition
5. Mad Hatter (Georgina Steytler)
- Leaf-mimicking caterpillar head portrait
- Visual proof of biological mimicry
Key Information
- 2026 submissions open until December 4
- AR-guided tours in physical exhibition
- New “Climate Witness” imagery category
- All works archived in museum’s digital ecology database
These works celebrate biodiversity while reflecting profoundly on the Anthropocene. When hyenas seek shelter in mineshafts, or spiderwebs refract gasoline rainbows, we witness not just natural wonders but visual testimony of civilization and wilderness renegotiating their terms.
As the jury chair stated: “Each photograph is a node in Earth’s web of life, collectively weaving our planet’s fragility and resilience.”
All images © the photographers, courtesy of the National History Museum, shared with permission
