Wildlife Photographer of the Year Announces New Jury Ahead of Sixty-First Competition

The international panel of experts will select the next Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners and accompanying portfolio, which will be displayed in a new exhibition launching at the Natural History Museum, London, in October 2025.

The panel, led by the Chair of the Jury, Kathy Moran, will come together at the Museum in February 2025 to select just 100 images from tens of thousands of entries sent in from all around the world. Each entry will be judged anonymously on its originality, narrative and ethical practice. The competition is open to all, regardless of age, nationality or experience level. 

The Jury

This year’s esteemed international jury is comprised of seven experts across a range of wildlife and conservation topics. They will judge entries not only to be part of the awarded 100 images, but also as potential winners of the competition’s 16 categories, from mammal behaviour and urban wildlife to underwater and photojournalism. There are also 3 categories in the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, for 17 years old and under.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year will also continue its brand-new Impact Award which was launched for the sixtieth anniversary of the competition to recognise a conservation success, a story of hope and/or positive change.

Please find details below on the jury for the sixty-first Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

• Gavin Broad (UK) is an entomologist, working on the taxonomy and ecology of parasitoid wasps, and has been a curator of the wasp collection at the Natural History Museum for 18 years. Gavin is a Vice President of the British Entomological and Natural History Society. Recently, Gavin has been heavily involved in sampling UK insects for whole genome sequencing. He also has a keen interest in the intersection of art and science, running the Museum’s Art-Science Interest Group.

• Jaime Culebras (Spain / Ecuador) is a biologist and herpetologist with MSc degrees in Environmental Education and Biodiversity and Conservation of Tropical Areas. He's been living in Ecuador for more than 14 years, where he works as a reptile and amphibian researcher and nature photographer, receiving numerous photography and conservation awards including in Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Jaime's greatest interest is to spread the existence and importance of threatened species, promote love towards reptiles and amphibians, as well as the fight against illegal trafficking of species and the snake-human conflict.

• Jennifer Hayes (USA) is an award-winning photographer, contributor, editor and author of numerous publications and books on marine environments. A marine biologist and a keen diver, Jennifer obtained graduate degrees in zoology and marine ecology documenting shark finning and commercial shark landings in the Northwest Atlantic. She is committed to promoting collaboration in ocean storytelling, and she is a Trustee of the Shark Research Institute, Explorer Club National Fellow as well as a Principal Photographer for Elysium Artists for Antarctic, Arctic Expeditions and Coral Triangle Expeditions.

• Kathy Moran (USA) is Chair of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Jury and the former Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic. As the magazine’s first Senior Editor for Natural History Projects, Kathy has been producing projects about terrestrial and underwater ecosystems since 1990. Kathy has edited and produced numerous books, as well as curated exhibitions. She was named Picture Editor of the Year for her winning portfolios in both the 2017 and 2006 Picture of the Year international competitions. She is a founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers and serves on the board.

• Hans Cosmas Ngoteya (Tanzania) is a wildlife and conservation storyteller. Hans is also co-founder of Ngoteya Wild, a Tanzanian wildlife and conservation storytelling organisation, and co-founder of the Tanzania Wildlife Media Association (TaWiMA), an association of professional Tanzanian wildlife media creatives, where he mentors aspiring wildlife conservation storytellers. In 2023, Hans was awarded the prestigious Jackson Wild Rising Star Award, recognising his achievements in nature, conservation and science media. His goal is to tell stories that help to build practical solutions to emerging conservation challenges and help communities to co-exist with wildlife.

• Andy Parkinson (UK) is a Nikon Europe Ambassador and a contributing photographer to National Geographic Magazine. He’s one of Europe’s most awarded and respected photographers and has won more than 130 national and international awards for his photography, including being awarded four times in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. His most recent story for National Geographic Magazine, published in the March 2023 issue, was on mountain hares, a species that Andy’s worked with for more than 20 years. He was a significant photography and film contributor to the successful campaign to achieve legal protection for this rapidly declining UK species.

• Akanksha Sood Singh (India) is among India’s premiere award-winning natural history filmmakers. She is the founding partner of one of the country’s leading independent natural history production companies, The Gaia People, and the founder of the Women of the Wild series in India, Pakistan and Malaysia. Akanksha’s work has won seven National Film Awards from the President of India, and she has recently been awarded the Leadership Diversity Award by the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers.  Akanksha holds multiple roles, including being a communications consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme.

   

An Invitation to All

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is committed to ensuring that any photographer, whether a professional or a budding enthusiast, can enter the competition from anywhere in the world. Calling for entries from photographers across the world, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is keen for submissions to reflect a variety of perspectives, locations and approaches.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is passionate about increasing female and non-binary representation in the competition and wider wildlife photography. Following last year’s record number of female and non-binary entrants to the competition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year is continuing to offer discounted entry to members of organisations that support diversity in wildlife photography.

New for this year’s competition, entrants between 18 and 26 years old can enter up to 25 images free of charge. This is in addition to the competition’s long-standing regulation that photographers aged 17 and under can enter up to 10 images free of charge in the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The entry fee waiver is extended to photographers who live in Africa, Southeast Asia and Central and South America. These are three regions that have previously been underrepresented in the competition.  

Kathy Moran, Chair of the Jury, says some words of encouragement to all photographers: “Be original. Trust in your work. All species and landscapes, great and small have the potential to captivate and motivate. Surprise us with what has delighted you this year and we can’t wait to once again be amazed.”

Gemma Ward, Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition Manager, says: “We’re very excited to welcome such an esteemed and insightful jury to select the next Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners, through which WPY then elevates these photographers’ all-important stories of the natural world to a global audience. With our new entry fee waiver for photographers between 18 and 26 years old, we hope for the sixty-first competition to be our biggest and widest reaching yet.  Diversifying the medium is a core driver of our work, so we are also delighted to continue free entry to the competition for countries that have so far been underrepresented in wildlife photography.”

For full details about the jury, competition rules, prizes and important dates, please visit nhm.ac.uk/wpy

#ENDS#

NOTES TO EDITORS

Sixty-First Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition

• Opens for entries on Monday 14 October 2024.

• Closes for entries at 11.30am GMT on Thursday 5 December 2024.

• Entrants to the adult competition may enter up to 25 images for a £30 fee, which increases to £35 in the final week of the entry period from 11.30am GMT 28 November 2023 to 11.30am GMT 5 December 2024.

• An entry fee waiver continues for photographers entering the adult competition from countries in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. 

• Rules and categories will be translated into 15 languages: Chinese, Japanese, Russian, French, Arabic, Finnish, German, Korean, Polish, Spanish, Swahili, Italian, Bengali, Hindi and Portuguese.

• Entrants aged between 18 and 26 may enter up to 25 images free of charge. Entrants 17 and under may enter up to 10 images for free.

• Find out how to enter: www.nhm.ac.uk/wpy/competition   

Sixtieth Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards and Exhibition

The winners of the sixtieth Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition will be announced at an awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, on Tuesday 8 October 2024.

Tickets are now on sale for the upcoming exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, which opens to the public on Friday 11 October 2024. Tickets and more information: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year.html

Media Contact

For access to high-resolution images or to arrange interviews with photographers, jury members or Museum spokespeople, please contact Laura Gosney, Communications Manager for Wildlife Photographer of the Year, at the Natural History Museum Press Office.

• Mobile: +44 (0)7957 650 531

• Email: wildpress@nhm.ac.uk

About Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Wildlife Photographer of the Year was founded in 1965 by BBC Wildlife Magazine, then called Animals. The Natural History Museum joined forces in 1984 to create the competition as it is known today. The annual competition and touring exhibition are now run and owned by the Natural History Museum, London.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Portfolio 34, edited by Keith Wilson and with a foreword by Kathy Moran, is now available on pre-sale and will be published on 9 October 2024, RRP £28.

Touring venues in the UK currently include Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery; Bristol Museum & Art Gallery; Chester Zoo; The Base, Greenham; The Beacon, Whitehaven.

International touring venues currently include the Australian National Maritime Museum and Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Australia; Royal BC Museum and Royal Ontario Museum in Canada; Statens Naturhistoriske Museum (Danish Natural History Museum) in Denmark; Montier Photo Festival in France; Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Westfälisches Pferdemuseum Münster and Naturkunde Museum Reutlingen in Germany; Palazzo della Permanente in Italy; Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (Natural History Museum Basel) in Switzerland.

About the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is a world-leading science centre and one of the most visited attractions in the UK. A global source of curiosity, inspiration and joy, our vision is to build a future in which both people and the planet thrive. We aim to be a catalyst for change, engaging advocates for the planet in everything that we do. Our 350 scientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency in all aspects of life. 

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