With over 1500 entries from 52 different countries, the organizers of the inaugural Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards have a good reason to smile. The hilarious submissions gave them a good reason to laugh too.
Aiming to raise awareness for wildlife while celebrating animals’ funny sides, the competition shares those special moments that wildlife photographers are rarely able to plan, but are always thrilled to encounter.
Julian Rad (Austria) was named the winner of the competition by the expert and celebrity panel of judges, including renowned wildlife photographer Will Burrad Lucas. Rad will enjoy a 7-day safari in Tanzania with the competition’s founder, Paul Joynson-Hicks, as his guide. Along with the safari and a return flight from the UK, Rad also received a Nikon D750 with a 24-85mm lens.
“Judging was really difficult as we had so many amazing entries, but in the end we found an incredible selection of technically brilliant photographs which are hilarious!,” Joynson-Hicks said, adding that the competition exceeded their expectations for the inaugural year.
“It was a pleasure to judge the inaugural Comedy Wildlife awards. The number and quality of the entries was fantastic. The finalists should be very proud of themselves, as should the animals they photographed, simply for looking so funny. Sadly there is no way of telling them,” said British comedian and competition judge Hugh Dennis.
William Richardson (UK) and Oliver Dreike (UK) were the runners up and received a Nikon 1 AW1 kit and Nikon Coolpix P900, respectively.
More funny animal photos
And now, finally, check out the rest of the images. And if you just can’t get enough of these hilarious animals, go ahead and take a look at all of the winners and finalists published so far.
- 2015 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2017 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- 2018 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2018 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- More funny entries from the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- Unseen entries from the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- Unseen entries from the 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- More funny entries from the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- Unseen entries from the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – winners
- More funny entries from the 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
- 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards – finalists
- Air guitar kangaroo wins Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2023


Of the 45 photos that made it to the final stage, the following were highly commended by the judges:










Make sure you sign up for updates on the CWPA website if you’d like to enter the next competition.
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