We are absolutely delighted to announce our 2022 winners. The standard, as always, has been exceptional. We are also thrilled to hand the title of World Nature Photographer of the Year to Jens Cullmann for his image ‘Danger in the mud.’ Many congratulations to all our winners!

Animal portraits

JENS CULLMANN, GERMANY - Gold WINNer and grand prize of WORLD NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

This photograph is the result of my staking out the largest pool in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, at a time when an extended drought had reduced the pool to rapidly-drying mud. I had to be very careful not to disturb the crocodile, even though it was buried in dry mud. They will launch themselves with tremendous speed and power at any animal foolish enough to come too close.

During the dry season, temperatures can reach 45 degrees Celsius and crocodiles will attempt to reduce their body temperature by burying themselves in mud. A giant crocodile such as this one could survive submerged for month without eating, by living off its fat reserves. This is a process known as aestivation. 

bronze: ANDRE JOHNSON, USA

Behaviour - Mammals

gold: HIDETOSHI OGATA, JAPAN

Japanese macaques on Awaji Island in Japan form huddles consisting of many individual monkeys, sometimes reaching more than thirty. In other places, huddles are usually made up of just a few, rarely more than ten. Cuddling and grooming are among several possible reasons for making a huddle. It begins with the mother and baby cuddling. Other females and young males then join in, as well as other cuddling groups. This photo captures a rare moment during the lactation season when three pairs of monkeys have formed a huddle after grooming. Most Awaji monkeys are non-aggressive and when they are raising their babies, mothers create individual communities that have no social hierarchies.

Behaviour - Amphibians and reptiles

GOLD: Norihiro ikuma, japan

The ‘Japanese stream toad’ lives deep in the mountains of Owase in Mie, Japan and only comes down from the mountains to the river when it is time to spawn.

bronze: SUZANNE TYLANDER, USA

Behaviour - Birds

Gold: CHARLES SCHMIDT, USA

A Male Hooded Merganser takes flight headed directly at me. I had been watching a pair of Hooded Mergansers in anticipation of them taking off. Ducks will often begin swimming more quickly when they are preparing to fly. I saw that they began to swim more quickly and thus was prepared to catch them taking off. I was lucky that they headed directly towards me!

Behaviour - Invertebrates

GOLD: JAVIER HERRANZ CASELLAS, SPAIN

A red crab (Grapsus adscensionis) appears surrounded by a thin curtain of water produced by the waves of the sea when it hits the rocks in which it looks for the small crustaceans and plants on which it feeds. La Gomera Island, Spain.

Nature art

GOLD: tom shlesinger, israel

Corals are animals, and this is how they reproduce and create new generations of baby corals. Usually, at the exact same time, thousands of corals of a given species along hundreds of kilometres of the reef reproduce by spawning egg-and-sperm bundles altogether into the open sea. These bundles will be carried away by the currents, mixing in the water, until they finally encounter a match—a sperm will fertilise an egg and new life will be created. Yet catching coral spawning is tricky business as it usually happens only once a year in a certain month of the year, on a specific night of the month, and at a certain hour of the night for a very short time window of only few minutes. In this photo, a close up of a branching coral spawn pinkish egg-and-sperm bundles.

People and nature

gold: virgil reglioni, norway

This is how it feels to be inside the glacier's guts. Not many people would even dare to go in there, where it is dark, deep, cold, loud, and wet. And that is the whole purpose of this photograph; pushing your limits to capture what only a few people will ever experience at night. Abseiling down felt incredible, as the more we penetrated into this dark monster, the more the fear rises up. The setup was simply impressive, and I did feel amazing just being hanging into that moulin with about 30 metres of dark void under my feet and my hanging tripod in the air.

SILVER: alex pansier, netherlands BRONZE: evan friedman, usa

GOLD: julie kenny, australia

The tree is seen as a sacred symbol, which carries significant meanings in both religious and spiritual philosophies. From above the surrounding sheep tracks combined with the fallen tree reminded me of the Tree of Life. While the aerial perspective focuses on the earth, you can see the pooled water in the sheep tracks reflecting hints of blue from the sky. While this represents many different things, for me it communicates the interconnection of all things, beginnings and endings, the cycling of life.

Underwater

gold: adriano morettin, italy

A couple of Harlequin shrimps Hymanocera picta photographed with the snoot on the blue seastar Linkia laevigata in Lembeh strait, Indonesia.

Planet Earth’s landscapes and environments

gold: jake mosher, usa

On June 17th, 2021, I hiked, snowshoed, and climbed to the 11,000-foot summit of Wyoming's Table Mountain to photograph the Milky Way over Grand Teton Peak. While these iconic mountains have been photographed tens of thousands of times, I wanted to show an entirely unique view of them. I was treated to one of the most spectacular displays of airglow that I've ever seen - similar to the aurora and created by photo-charged particles, but spanning much of the horizon.

Black and white

GOLD: ernoult alain, France

The Lesser Antillean Iguana, photographed on Grenada Island (Windward Islands, Caribbean, West Indies).

Animals in their habitat

gold: sascha fonseca, united arab emirates

A beautiful snow leopard triggers my camera trap high up in the Indian Himalayas. I captured this image during a 3-year DSLR camera trap project in the Ladakh region in northern India. The mystery surrounding the snow leopard always fascinated me. They are some of the most difficult large cats to photograph in the wild. Not only because of their incredible stealth, but also because of the remote environment they live in.

Urban wildlife

gold: vladislav tasev, uk

The common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). A male kestrel perched in its nest, dilapidated old, tall and rusty street lamps that have become the bird's home. A place I wouldn't expect to see her. I took the picture at sunset to see the rust, the lamps and the bird in natural light. The photo was taken in the town of Stara Zagora near the Thracian University, in an abandoned parking lot near a small forest.

Nature photojournalism

GOLD: Nicolas remy, australia

An Australian fur seal shows a bad injury from a boat propeller. Shot in Port Kembla, NSW, Australia.

To see last year’s winners, click here.