Image of a clumsy lion cub wins Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

The funniest photography competition in the world has announced its winners for 2022. Yes, of course, it’s the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards!

This year, the title of the funniest image was rewarded to Jennifer Hadley for her photo of a clumsy little lion. While cats, both wild and domestic, are known for exquisite reflexes, this one is… well, not so graceful. As always, there are more hilarious shots among category winners, so let’s check them out together and improve this day, shall we?

Jennifer’s photo was appropriately titled Not so cat-like reflexes and other than the overall prize, it also brought her the win in the Creatures of the Land category. She was competing against 5,000 entries from over 85 countries around the world. And according to the judges, her image fought off fierce competition in the closest voting ever.

The winner captured this funny photo in the Serengeti, Tanzania. The clumsy “kitten” in the image is a 3-month-old cub trying to descend from a tree. But as you can see, it didn’t go so well.  “It was probably his first time in a tree,” Jennifer said of the image “and he decided to just go for it.” No lions were harmed in taking this photo. Maybe just a little embarrassed.

Talking about her winning image, Jennifer explained:

“I think part of what makes this contest great is that most of these photos probably happen by complete accident and that was certainly the case with the lion cub falling out of the tree. It was very late in the afternoon and so I had my aperture as open as possible to capture the most light possible with my shutter down lower than I would have liked but I figured with the cub walking around in the tree, I didn’t really need the speed. It didn’t even occur to me that he would make a go of getting down by himself in the most un-cat like fashion. I mean, how often do cats fall out of trees? The gasp that emanated from our vehicle was palatable. No one expected this to happen and of course we were concerned for his safety but happily as cats do, he righted himself just in time and landed on all fours and ran off with his siblings. A happy ending for a hapless kitty who didn’t quite know how to get down from a tree.”

As the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Jennifer wins a once in a lifetime safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya, with Alex Walker’s Serian plus a unique handmade trophy from the Wonder Workshop in Tanzania and a photography bag from THINK TANK.

Other than the overall winner, the contest also recognizes five category winners and People’s Choice Award winner. The latter is also Jennifer Hadley, but for a different image. It shows two charming penguins in a situation photographer entitled Talk to the Fin!  Honestly, can you imagine any other scene seeing this image?

And just to make things even funnier, there are also ten Highly Commended Winners. Among them, there are some of my favorites that made me laugh out loud when I presented you with the 2022 contest’s finalists earlier this year.

Last but not least, let me remind you that the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam. It’s open to everyone and free to enter and it’s both comic relief and a part of a conservation effort. The contest aims to highlight the extremely important message of wildlife conservation in an engaging and positive way. It supports the work of charity partner Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) and donates 10% of net revenue to them.

You know what comes now, right? The remaining category winners and highly commended images. Take a look at them below and make sure to visit Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards’ website for more information.