Comedy Wildlife Awards spark much-needed joy in nature
By
Bronwyn ThompsonOctober 09, 2026
Comedy Wildlife Awards spark much-needed joy in nature
"If I can't see you" – Cliff Fawcett (UK)
Cliff Fawcett/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"If I can't see you" – Cliff Fawcett (UK)
Cliff Fawcett/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"Just a gentle nudge … for traffic discipline" – Shailza Singhal (India)
Shailza Singhal/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"Fashion fades. Feather coats are forever" – Tapani Linnanmäki (Finland)
Tapani Linnanmäki/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"Hair Check Before the Family Photo" – Subi Sridharan (UK)
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"Oops … I think I just parped" – Carolyn Moore (UK)
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"If I were just a little faster …" – Eric Boren (US)
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"Did I sleep past my alarm?" – Fabi Fregonesi (Brazil)
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"The Leap He'll Never Forget" – David Lee (Singapore)
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"This is my best side" – Natalie Veekmans (Belgium)
Natalie Veekmans/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"Cheeky little elephant" – Hannah Dietl (Germany)
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"Bears Sharing a Joke" – Charles Janson (US)
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"Morning calisthenics" – Scott Suraino (US)
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"The Secret Kiss" – Jeetendra Chaware (India)
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"Zonking" – Celine Nic Oireachtaigh (Ireland)
Celine Nic Oireachtaigh/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
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"The Ground Is Lava!" – Robert Gondek (Poland)
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“Fish-headed bird” – Eigil B Jensen (Norway)
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"Are You Kidding Me?" – Kevin Lohman (US)
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"Two birds one vision" – Lynn Emery (UK)
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"Push Over" – Barbara Seiberl-Stark (Austria)
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"Spicy Orangutan" – Tanner Mansell (US)
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"Doris with her hat" – Andy Rouse (UK)
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"The different one" – Dirk Koster (The Netherlands)
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"Sea gangsters" – Marek Jackowski (Poland)
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"The Handstand" – Homagni Sahana (India)
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"Squirrel wars" – Remi Schnell (France)
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"#ForTheGram" – Rosie Barrett (UK)
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"Ballet Dancer" – Robert Nairn (UK)
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"Out of water" – Thong Duy Vu (Vietnam)
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"Little Godzilla" – Udo Harms (Germany)
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"Lessons" – Heather Cudworth (US)
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"Nature's Window" – Lee Frost (UK)
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"Sexy mantis" – Diego Perez (Peru)
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"Angry Bird " – Jan Wittmer (Germany)
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"Smile" – Marek Jackowski (Poland)
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"Elvis" – Paolo Torre (Italy)
Paolo Torre/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
View gallery - 35 imagesThis year, more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries were judged in one of the most enjoyable photo competitions on the calendar. And here we present a snapshot of the 40 images that made the shortlist across a diverse range of categories, including ones that highlight amphibians and insects.
TheNikon Comedy Wildlife Awards, founded in 2015, will announce its overall and category winners on December 8 in London.
"The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards started very gently, somewhere out on the vast plains of the Serengeti," says the competition's co-founder Tom Sullam. "What began as a small effort to raise awareness of wildlife conservation has grown into something far bigger than we ever imagined. The competition is now truly global, and a decade or so on, we want to make it even bigger, funnier, and more far-reaching than ever. We use humour to get people to feel empathy towards wildlife, and it's that empathy that creates behavioural change for the better.”
Here's a snapshot of the finalists, but make sure to check out our gallery to see more images that'll brighten your day.
"Oops, I think I just parped" – Carolyn Moore (UK)
"In the spring of this year, I went with a friend to a spot that we knew had a healthy population of hares," Moore explains. "Our plan was to see how close we could get to the hares without disturbing them using a little of what we knew about fieldcraft – it is important to stay below the horizon when tracking hare and to disguise solid shapes – such as human shapes! Sure enough, there were a few hares in the field and the grass was just long enough to give a bit of protection to the hares and set a nice backdrop for the photographs."
"I didn’t need to wait for long, several hare came close to where I was standing without seeing me, enabling me to snap away without worrying them at all," she adds. "I think the image shows just how relaxed this little fella was. It was a joy to watch them going about their activities and seemingly totally relaxed. This is what wildlife photography is all about for me."
"Hair Check Before the Family Photo" – Subi Sridharan (UK)
Subi Sridharan/Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
"One meerkat insists on giving a last-minute grooming inspection while the others are trying their best to look respectable," says the Birmingham-based photographer.
"Fashion fades. Feather coats are forever" – Tapani Linnanmäki, Finland
"For four winters now, I have had the privilege of photographing white-tailed eagles on the frozen sea around Kustavi, on Finland’s western coast," says Linnanmäki. "During the first winter, two white-tailed eagles always came to the spot, presumably a pair. Since then, there has only been one eagle."
"The eagle kept coming to the spot throughout last winter, as long as there was ice on the sea," the snapper adds. "The water on the ice didn't seem to bother the sea eagle, and it approached with the same confident stride as before. The eagle hasn’t become any tamer over the years. It still takes off as soon as it sees me, even if it is sitting high up in a tree some distance away. We are both quite happy with the current arrangement: the eagle gets a full stomach, and I get the photographs."
Click onour galleryto see many more of the finalists.
Souce:Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards
View gallery - 35 images
