
Last month, Wildlife Photographer of the Year shared with us some of this year’s highly commended images. The winners have now been announced, and like every year – the contest didn’t disappoint.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is a prestigious contest organized by London’s Natural History Museum. It’s now in its 56th year, and it has received over 49,000 entries from professionals and amateurs from all over the world.
This year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year is Sergey Gorshkov from Russia. His beautiful image, The Embrace, shows an Amur (Siberian) tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir in the Russian Far East. These tigers are only found in this region and it took Sergey more than 11 months to capture this moment with hidden cameras.
“It’s a scene like no other,” said Rosamund Kidman Cox, the Chair of the judging panel.
“A unique glimpse of an intimate moment deep in a magical forest. Shafts of low winter sun highlight the ancient fir tree and the coat of the huge tigress as she grips the trunk in obvious ecstasy and inhales the scent of tiger on resin, leaving her own mark as her message. It’s also a story told in glorious colour and texture of the comeback of the Amur tiger, a symbol of the Russian wilderness.”

Like every year, there’s also an award for the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year. This year, the title was awarded to Finnish photographer Liina Heikkinen for her dramatic image The fox that got the goose. Liina is the youngest of a family of wildlife photographers and has spent much of her childhood immersed in nature in her homeland of Finland.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020, Young Grand Title Winner
The next competition opens for entries on Monday 19 October and closes at 11.30 am GMT on 10 December 2020, so you’ll soon be able to submit your own work. You can find out more about the contest here, and follow it on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for updates.
The exhibition of the best photos opens at the Natural History Museum on Friday, 16 October 2020. But of course, you can also take a look at this year’s winners below.
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Winner 2020, 10 years and under

Winner 2020, 11-14 years old

Winner 2020, Animal Portraits

Winner 2020, Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles

Winner 2020, Behaviour: Birds

Winner 2020, Behaviour: Invertebrates

Winner 2020, Behaviour: Mammals

Winner 2020, Plants and Fungi

Winner 2020, Under Water

Winner 2020, Earth’s Environments

Winner 2020, Wildlife Photojournalism: Single Image

Winner 2020, Wildlife Photojournalist Story Award

Winner 2020, Rising Star Portfolio

Winner 2020, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio Award
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