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A Lens on the Wild


The 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners have just been announced. Can you believe they received over 60,000 entries from 113 different countries and territories this year? That's a ton of photos, and it must have been so tough to choose.

The images are incredible. They're proof of the photographers' amazing skill and patience, but also a shout-out to how totally awesome the animals and places they capture are. You get everything in these shots: moments of raw power, delicate tenderness, and a tough, honest look at the environmental problems our planet is facing.

Once a photo makes it to the shortlist, the real inquisition begins. It must be original; a story we haven't seen before. It needs to make you pause, gasp, or even feel a bit uncomfortable. 

London’s Natural History Museum proclaimed Wim van den Heever as the winner, and it took the South African photographer ten years to capture the striking, ghostly portrait of a brown hyena chilling right next to an abandoned house in Namibia. This is a story of loss and resilience, which ultimately leads to the realization that nature always prevails in the end.

Besides the grand prize, WPY also handed out 18 other awards celebrating amazing images of wildlife. I selected a few of my favorites from the competition and included them below.








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