A tree-hugging tiger is the Wildlife Photo of the Year 2020

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.”

© Sergey Gorshkov, Russia Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020, Grand Title Winner

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.

© Liina Heikkinen, Norway
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.