Painfully hilarious photo of a “nutcracker monkey” wins Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2021

The day I’ve anxiously awaited has finally come: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards has announced its winners for 2021. And as always, they didn’t disappoint. This year’s overall winner is a photo of a Golden Silk Monkey I named “The Nutcracker,” I guess you can tell why. But of course, there are other hilarious photos that will make your day, so let’s dive right in and see all of this year’s category winners.

Like every year, the contest doesn’t only improve our mood and focus on the lighter side of wildlife photography. It also helps to promote wildlife conservation, and this year, the competition is supporting Save Wild Orangutans by donating 10% of its total net revenue to the charity. The initiative safeguards wild orangutans in and around Gunung Palung National Park, Borneo.

This year’s contest received over 7,000 hilarious entries from across the globe, and Ken Jensen is this year’s overall winner. This keen amateur photographer from Blackburn was awarded the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the year for his image appropriately titled “Ouch!”

Ken captured the winning image on the bridge that runs over the river Xun in the Lonsheng Gorge, Yunnan, in China during a family holiday in 2016. “The monkeys roam freely in the forest area, playing on the bridge in family groups and are very inquisitive of humans and not at all shy,” the photographer explains. “This particular male monkey was actually showing a sign of aggression as he sat on one of the supporting wires.” But hey, timing is everything, and so is the context we give to a photo.

The Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award, voted for by the public went to John Speirs. In addition, he also won the Creatures of the Air Award. He took this photo in Scotland and entitled it “I Guess Summer’s Over!” It was one of my favorites among the finalists, probably because it looks like me on Mondays during crazy autumn winds in my hometown.

Take a look at the remaining category winners and highly commended images below. And if you’d like some more giggles today, I encourage you to take a look at the winners from previous years, too. Finally, if you want to look at some of these all day, every day, you can get prints here.

• 2015 winners
• 2017 finalists
• 2018 winners and finalists
• 2019 winners and finalists
• 2020 winners and finalists
• 2021 finalists

Portfolio category winner

The Portfolio category winner is Vicki Jauron with her series of images “The Joy of a Mud Bath”. Just look at this adorable creature!

Video category winner

The contest also features a video category, and the winner for 2021 is Rahul Lakhmani. His video shows “two best friends hugging after lockdown,” and admit it, you’ve been there. I sure know this is how I hugged my mom and best friends after we got vaccinated.

Highly commended