Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists show the bright and hilarious side of animal life

It’s that time of the year again: The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards has announced its finalists. I don’t know about you, but it’s one of my absolute favorite photography contests and its images never fail to put a smile on my face. Hoping that they will brighten up your day just as they did mine, here are the finalist photos of the 2019 contest.

The competition was founded by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers and passionate conservationists. It’s open for entries all over the world and it’s free to enter for everyone. The only condition is to show the funny side of the earth’s wildlife. And so far, the photographers all over the world have definitely managed to do it!

However, it’s not just about the animals goofing around. If you’ve been following the contest, you know that it aims to highlight the extremely important message of wildlife conservation.

One of the founders, Paul Joynson-Hicks, said:

“Every year we do this competition, it gets more and more exciting seeing how people visualise the funny sides of wildlife in the wild.  And each year we see a wider variety of species doing funny things, whether it’s a very naughty penguin (which had my kids rolling around the floor in hysterics) or dancing lions, a chillin’ chimp or even bee-eaters having a shouting match – they’re hysterical! Of course, the other aspect of our funny competition is letting people know what they can do at home to be conservationists. Our planet is in distress, we all know that, now we just need to know what to do. Hopefully, we can provide a few small tips to get people started.”

Joynson-Hicks and his team share some tips that will make it easier for all of us to become “conservationists at home:”  

1. SHOP RESPONSIBLY. 

Yup, this is super easy for everyone to do. For example; don’t buy products which have palm oil, because the palm oil plantations are destroying rainforests. Try and avoid un-recyclable products and one-use plastics/packaging.

2. RESTRICT WATER USE AT HOME. 

Ok, this is the thing, each time you flush the loo we send approx. 20 liters of water down the drain – seriously, it’s crazy. So… have shorter showers, water your garden less and stop flushing the loo every single time.  This would save billions of liters of fresh water that could support our environment as well as supply homes and food for a global plethora of wildlife. 

3. BECOME A “WILD INFLUENCER.” 

This is a special person who may be not a mega activist, but really, really cares about the environment and wants to do something to help. For more ideas, please go to www.comedywildlifephoto.com.

The Winners of the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Award will be announced on 13 November 2019. The overall winner will win a one-week safari with Alex Walker’s Serian in the Masai Mara, Kenya, as well as a unique handmade trophy from the Art Garage in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

And now, finally, check out the rest of the finalist images of this year’s contest. And if you just can’t get enough of these  hilarious animals, go ahead and take a look at previous years’ winners and finalists:

• 2015
• 2017
• 2018
• More funny entries from 2019