With so many beneficial goals for wildlife welfare, the Comedy Wildlife
Photography Awards celebrates its first year by announcing the
winners of its first competition, a lucky 13 photographs of the 1,502
submitted by photographers from 54 countries. A wild European
hamster, captured by camera 'in flight,' won the top prize for
Austrian photographer Julian Rad. Wow!
1. First Prize Funny Wildlife Photo: Julian Rad, Photographer, Austria
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: First Prize, Julian Rad photographer
Wonderfully flighty and free is this wild European hamster taking a wide jump into what looks like a pond. This photo won some great prizes* to Julian Rad.
2. Silver Runner-Up Funny Wildlife Photo: William Richardson, Photographer, Great Britain
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Silver Runner-Up, William Richardson
This stag looks like he raised his head from the bushes with more than he bargained for, but he did make for an hilarious photograph. You can see more of Richardson's photography here.
3. Bronze Runner-Up, Funny Wildlife Photo: Oli Dreike, Photographer, Tanzania
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Bronze Runner-Up, Oli Dreike
Picking one's nose is not a disgrace to a Mountain Gorilla; he can't be expected to use a Kleenex for such necessities, after all. But to us humans, being caught on camera in the act is indeed hilarious, so Dreike absolutely deserves high credit for the photo's intimacy and artistry!
The following photos all received the same 'Highly Commended' award by the Comedy Wildlife Photography judges. They are randomly placed in a numeric order below.
4. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Alison Buttigieg, Photographer, Finland
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Alison Buttigieg, Photographer
Read more about this photo here.
5. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Julie Hunt, Photographer, United Kingdom
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Julie Hunt, Photographer
6. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Charlie Davidson, United Kingdom
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Charlie Davidson, Photographer
7. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Megan Lorenz, Photographer, Canada
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Megan Lorenz, Photographer
8. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo:Tony Dilger, Photographer, United Kingdom
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Tony Dilger, Photographer
9. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Mohammed Alnaser, Photographer, Saudi Arabia
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Mohammed Alnaser, Photographer
10. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Julian Rad, Austria
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Julian Rad, Photographer
(Second winning photo for Julian Rad!)
11. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Marc Mol, Photographer, Switzerland
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Marc Mol, Photographer
12. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Graham McGeorge, Photographer, USA
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Graham McGeorge, Photographer
13. 'Highly Commended' Funny Wildlife Photo: Yuzuru Masuda, Photographer, Great Britain
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award: Highly Commended, Yuzuru Masuda, Photographer
The Comedy Wildlife Awards sponsored this competition in conjunction with Nomad Tanzania, Natural High Safaris, Nikon UK, Kenya Airways and One Vision Imaging. They announced this year’s winner at a special ceremony on Wednesday, November 11 at the Corbett Place Bar, London.
*Paul Joynson-Hicks, who founded the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, is a renowned wildlife photographer himself, and his services as a guide and photographic tutor in Tanzania are one of the first place winner's prizes. Also the prize winner gets a free trip to Tanzania, a Nikon D750, and a beautiful first place trophy. The Silver Runner-Up received a Nikon 1 AW1 Kit, and the Bronze winner was rewarded with a Nikon Coolpix P900.
Photographers, start shooting funny animals photos for submission into the second annual Comedy Wildlife Photographic Awards in 2016; we'll announce the dates here!
See more photo submissions to this year's competition: 10 Really Funny & Memorable Photos From The 2015 Comedy Wildlife Photographic Awards.
