The Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is one of the world’s top wildlife photography honours – it’s kind of like the Oscars™ of the photography world!

So if you’re a budding young photographer who loves wildlife, get out into nature and take some sensational snaps! Your images can cover any aspect of wildlife and the natural world – from creepy crawlies and terrific trees to interesting habitats and urban wildlife. This year’s competition is the 61st edition, so what are you waiting for? Get inspired and get snapping!

Meet some of our previous winners

Vidyun R Hebbar – Dome home

Vidyun R Hebbar loves taking pictures of spiders in the streets, parks and gardens near his home in Bengaluru, India. He snapped this spooky shot, Dome Home, at a local theme park – and scooped the prize in 2021. The tent spider’s web was woven into a hole in a wall and Vidyun captured the image as a colourful tuk-tuk vehicle zoomed past in the background!

Vidyun says:

“I first entered the competition was I was eight. Even a picture of your own neighbourhood can take you to Wildlife Photographer of the Year!”

Liwia Pawłowska – Recording by Hand

Liwia Pawłowska’s photo scored a Highly Commended, and won her the Impact Award for the competitions 60th anniversary. She snapped her winning entry, Recording by Hand (pictured below) as she watched a common whitethroat being gently held by a ‘bird ringer’. She’s been taking pictures of bird ringers’ work since she was 9! Early bird!

Liwia says:

“When my mum told me that my photo was highly commended, and that I‘d won the Hope Award for the competition’s 60th anniversary, I let out a long scream of joy and disbelief. My biggest dream in photography had come true!”

The Prizes

The 2025 Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year will receive:

• – £1,500
• – A special trophy
• – A personalised certificate
• – A two-day Masterclass with a professional photographer
• – An article in the Natural History Museum’s WILD WORLD magazine

The other Young Category winners will receive £500, a personalised certificate, a trip to London for the awards ceremony and their image published in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio. Wild!

There are also prizes for the runner-up and highly commended entries!

Winners will have a whale of a time at the awards ceremony. Literally! The ceremony takes place underneath Hope the whale at the Natural History Museum in London…

How to enter

For Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year, you can submit up to TEN photos into one of the three age groups:

10 Years and Under

11-14 Years

15-17 Years

Entry is FREE! The winner of each age category will be considered for the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year title.

Good luck! We can’t wait to see your entries…

Head to nhm.ac.uk/wpy/competition/young-wpy to find out more and submit your entry by 5 December!

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