Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Type: Competition Frequency: Annual (results announced October) Location: Natural History Museum, London, UK Founded: 1964 Organizer: Natural History Museum, London (formerly co-run with BBC Wildlife Magazine)

Overview

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPY / WPOTY) is the world’s most prestigious nature photography competition. Launched in 1964, it attracts tens of thousands of entries from 60+ countries each year. The “Under Water” category (sometimes called “Underwater World” or “Underwater Species”) has become a showcase for the best underwater photographers in the world, and WPY winners are regularly featured on Wetpixel.

WPY was co-organized by the BBC and the Natural History Museum until the BBC dropped its involvement; title sponsors have included Shell (2007), Veolia Environnement (2010–2012), and the competition is now run solely by the NHM. Winning images are displayed in an annual exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London.

History on Wetpixel

2004 — Digital entries accepted for the first time

The 2004 competition was the first to accept digital images, requiring both the RAW file from the camera and the processed TIFF/JPEG. The rules initially prohibited “digital manipulation,” sparking community debate about standard digital workflow. Doug Perrine won the overall WPY title with “Bronze whalers charging a baitball,” shot with a Canon D60 in a UK-Germany housing — the first digital winner in the competition’s history. Perrine noted that digital gave him the ability to shoot hundreds of frames in chaotic fast-moving conditions, something impossible with film’s 36-frame limit. Other digital UW winners included Charles Hood (Nikon D100, hammerhead), Douglas David Seifert (Canon D60/Sea & Sea, white shark), and Eric Cheng was with both Hood and Seifert when they captured their winning shots. (^[1], ^[2])

2006 — Underwater dominance

Underwater photographs won the overall prize and placed first in 4 of 12 categories. Goran Ehlme won the overall WPY with a walrus feeding image (Nikon D2X, Seacam housing). Michael Aw won the Underwater World category with a mimic octopus (Nikon D2X, Seacam). Tibor Dombovari won Animal Portraits with a barracuda (Nikon D70s, Subal). Wetpixel members Gavin Parsons, Jordi Chias, and Alex Mustard received Highly Commended awards. Alex Mustard wrote the Wetpixel report. (^[3])

2007 — Shell WPY

Felipe Barrio (Spain) won the Underwater World category and Thomas Peschak (South Africa) won Nature in Black and White. Other UW award winners included Paul Nicklen, Graham Eaton, Jurgen Freund, Angel Fitor, Douglas David Seifert, and Alex Mustard. All award-winning underwater photos were shot digitally. (^[4])

2008 — Brian Skerry sweep

Brian Skerry took first, runner-up, and specially commended in the Underwater World category — a remarkable sweep. Other commended UW photographers included Jordi Chias, Thomas Peschak, Laurent Piechegut, Amos Nachoum, and David Hall. (^[5])

2009 — Veolia WPY; controversy

Michel Loup won the Underwater World category with a pike image from the Jura Mountains. Other UW winners included Paul Nicklen, Doug Perrine, and Nano Cordovilla. The overall 2009 winner, Jose Luis Rodriguez, was later disqualified in January 2010 after the judging panel determined his winning image used a trained wolf, violating competition rules — a controversy that sparked forum discussion about its implications for underwater photography competitions. (^[6], ^[7])

2010 — Tony Wu’s sperm whales

Tony Wu won the Underwater World category with an image of four sperm whales from Dominica. Jordi Chias won the One Earth category with a turtle trapped in fishing net. Brian Skerry received Highly Commended for shark finning imagery. Adam Hanlon reported the results for Wetpixel. (^[8])

2011 — Paul Solder

Paul Solder won the Underwater World category with “The grace of giants,” an image of walruses under water in Svalbard. He also won Runner Up with a bear swiping at a salmon. Highly Commended went to Alex Tattersall, Thomas Peschak, and Nuno Sa. (^[9])

2013 — Wetpixel at the ceremony

Brian Skerry won the Underwater Worlds category with “Feast of the Ancient Mariner.” Mike Veitch won the World in Our Hands category with “Fish Trap.” Julian Cohen was runner-up in Underwater Worlds with “Lionfish Bait.” Douglas Seifert had images commended in three categories. Alex Mustard’s “Giant with Sunbeams” was commended in Nature in Black & White. Wetpixel member Julian Cohen attended and photographed the ceremony. (^[10])

2014 — Duchess of Cambridge presents

The Duchess of Cambridge presented the prizes at the gala ceremony. She told Alex Mustard that she “loves nudibranchs and night diving.” The UW Species category was won by Indra Swart Wonowidjojo (Indonesia) with whale sharks from Cenderawasih Bay. Other UW finalists included Alex Mustard, Cristian Vizl, Brian Skerry, Fabien Michenet, Adriana Basques, Chris Gug, and Jordi Chias. (^[11])

2016 — Tony Wu returns

Tony Wu won the Under Water category with an image of two-spot snappers mass spawning in Palau — a project he had returned to every year since 2012. Finalists included Geo Cloete (jellyfish tornado), Audun Rikardsen (humpback split shot), Ralph Pace, and Greg Lecoeur (sardine run). (^[12])

2017 — Multiple UW winners

Anthony Berberian (France) won the Underwater category with a lobster larva riding a jellyfish, shot on a night dive in deep water off Tahiti (Nikon D810, Nauticam housing). Tony Wu won Behaviour: Mammals with a sperm whale aggregation off Sri Lanka. Justin Gilligan won Behaviour: Invertebrates with giant spider crabs in Tasmania. Brian Skerry won Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles with a leatherback turtle. Laurent Ballesta won Earth’s Environments with an Antarctic iceberg panorama (147 stitched images). Thomas Peschak won the Portfolio Award with underwater images from the Seychelles. (^[13])

2018 — Flying fish and macro

Michael Patrick O’Neill (USA) won the Under Water category with a flying fish shot using slow shutter motion blur (Nikon D4, Aquatica housing). Shane Gross received two Highly Commended awards — nurse shark mating and a Bahama cavefish. Wayne Jones won Highly Commended with a pygmy goby in a glass bottle (Canon 5D Mark IV, Nauticam housing). Tony Wu was Highly Commended in Animal Portraits with an Asian sheepshead wrasse. (^[14])

2019 — David Doubilet wins

David Doubilet won the Under Water category with a garden eel colony in Dauin, Philippines — his subject for his very first National Geographic story decades earlier. He used a remote camera system triggered via a 12-meter extension cord to avoid disturbing the shy eels (Nikon D3, Seacam housing). Cruz Erdmann (New Zealand), age 11–14, won the Young Photographer category with a bigfin reef squid in Lembeh Strait. (^[15])

2021 — Laurent Ballesta wins overall

Laurent Ballesta won both the Under Water category and the overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year title with “Creation” — camouflage groupers spawning in Fakarava lagoon, French Polynesia (Nikon D5, Seacam housing). This was the culmination of five years of return visits. Alex Mustard won Natural Artistry with “Bedazzled” — a ghost pipefish on a feather star (Subal housing, Retra strobes). Jennifer Hayes won Oceans: The Bigger Picture with harp seal birthing on melting ice. Angel Fitor won the Portfolio Award with Lake Tanganyika cichlids. (^[16])

2022 — Preview coverage

Adam Hanlon published a preview of Highly Commended images with marine themes before the formal results announcement. (^[17])

Notable UW Category Winners

Significance

WPY has been the most consistently covered external competition in Wetpixel’s history, with articles spanning call-for-entries announcements, results, People’s Choice awards, and controversy coverage. The competition’s acceptance of digital entries in 2004 — and Doug Perrine’s immediate digital victory — was a watershed moment for the film-to-digital transition. Wetpixel community members have collectively won or been commended in every year covered, with Brian Skerry, Tony Wu, Alex Mustard, and Laurent Ballesta being the most decorated UW photographers in WPY history.

References

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