The winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 have just been announced by the Natural History Museum (NHM). Several moments from the wildlife were featured in the winning images of the competition.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 05: General view at the entrance of the building during the reopening of the Natural History Museum on August 5, 2020 in London, England. The museum closed for 5 months due to COVID-19.
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Grand Title Winners 2022
For this year's top prize, the Natural History Museum awarded its Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 to Karine Aigner, as reported by IFLScience. The American photographer captured beautifully a buzzing ball of cactus bees that were increasing rapidly in the sand of Texas. This award makes her the fifth woman to be awarded the grand title award in the competition's history, as per Discover Wildlife's report.
It featured a single queen bee in the center of the frame, surrounded by several worker male bees attempting to mate with the queen. This behavior was known as "balling" and as per the report, the bees are currently aggressive and intense when it is happening. The photograph also won the "Behavior: Invertebrates" category.
OBE Jury Chair Rosamund Kidman Cox stated, "Wings-whirring, incoming males home in on the ball of buzzing bees that is rolling straight into the picture. The sense of movement and intensity is shown at bee-level magnification and transforms what are little cactus bees into big competitors for a single female." She is currently an editor, photo editor, and writer that specializes in wildlife and environmental issues.
The set of judges deliberates the winners based on a number of criteria like originality, narrative, technical, excellence, and ethical practice. CNN Travel reported that from the original count of entries, the judges have chosen 19 winners from different categories.
The grand title of the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was awarded to 16-year-old Katanyou Wuttichaitanakorn. The Thai photographer was commended by one of the judges, Sugandhi Gadadhar, and said that the teenager captured the whale in a different composition.
She added, "And this, coming from a young photographer, gives me hope that they are not just seeing, but observing the very minute details, learning much along the way."
Natural History Museum Director Doug Gurr congratulates the photographers as they provided "unforgettable glimpses into the lives of wild species, sharing unseen details, fascinating behaviors and frontline on the climate and biodiversity crises."
This was NHM's 59th year of conducting this competition. And this year, 38,575 images were submitted as an entry from over 90 countries. There will be an exhibition to showcase 100 powerful photographs that tell the story of wildlife.
This will run from October 14th this year to July 2nd, 2023 in Natural History Museum at South Kensington, London. Tickets for the viewing can be booked on NHM's official website.
