The prestigious competition again this year Wildlife Photographer of the Year featured thousands of shots from all over the world. Among over 60,000 photographs sent from more than 113 countries, the image of the South African photographer won the overall title Wim van den Heever. His shot, titled Ghost Town Visitorportrays a very rare one brown hyena prowling the ruins of a ghost town in Namibia, inside a former mining settlement.
The image is the result of a wait lasting more than ten years, during which van den Heever patiently chased the perfect moment. And when he finally found it, he created a photograph so powerful that it won the 61st edition of the competition. What struck the jury was not only the technical precision of the shot, but also the evocative power of the scene. As the juror pointed out Akanksha Sood Singh in a press release, what made the difference was the “suggestive contrast between wild nature and abandoned civilization”.
A significant innovation of this edition is the integration of the winning photos with the Natural History Museum’s Biodiversity Integrity Index, an indicator that measures how much native biodiversity persists in a given area. A fundamental tool for evaluating progress in environmental conservation globally.
In addition to the overall winner, there was no shortage of high-impact images in the other categories. The Brazilian Fernando Faciole received theImpact Award with Orphan of the Roada touching photograph portraying an orphaned baby anteater, a symbol of the growing number of animals victims of road accidents in Brazil.
Spanish Javier Aznar González de Rueda was awarded the Photojournalist Story Award thanks to a report on the controversial relationship between human beings and rattlesnakes in the United States.
Another Spaniard, Jon In Juárez, won the category Photojournalism with a powerful image depicting the fetus of a southern white rhino, a silent reminder of the vulnerability of endangered species.
The American stood out in the category dedicated to underwater photography Ralph Pace, with a fascinating photo showing a shark ovum capsule Cephaloscyllium ventriosum fixed to the base of a kelp, illuminated like a natural lantern.
There is also space for emerging talents: the Rising Star Award went to the young German photographer Luca Lorenz for an image entitled “Meet the Neighbors” with a delicate and ironic tone, in which a nutria fits into the quiet elegance of two mute swans on a German lake, breaking the harmony with a pinch of spontaneity.
Finally, Italy celebrates the victory of the very young player Andrea Dominizi, winner of the award Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year (reserved for 15-17 year olds). His image shows a Cerambycidal beetle absorbed in sleep on a tree Lepini Mountains, in the heart of our country.
