December 10, 2022: 6 categories, 5,000 entries from over 80 countries. check out the award winning hilarious wildlife pictures. What is this award and how did it start?
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which showcases the funny side on wildlife photography, has announced the winners for its 2022 edition!
But first, How did it all start?
Wildlife photographer Paul Joynson-Hicks, while living in East Africa, while looking at photographs clicked by him, came across a lot of them which made him laugh out loud: a warthog's bottom and an an eagle looking at him through its back legs, were among the few funny pictures. This made him realise that the humour of these photographs was both entertaining and a means to engage people with the threats facing these same animals. And so, In 2015, The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards was born from Paul's small office in northern Tanzania. Soon after, Co-Founder and photographer Tom Sullam and Michelle Wood joined Paul.
In picture: Paul, Tom and Michelle
Since then, the competition has grown into a global competition that’s able to make a meaningful contribution to the amazing world of wildlife.
The Organization also supports a sustainable conservation organisation every year, and this year, it will be donating 10% of its revenue to the Whitley Fund For Nature.
For this year's edition, the competition has announced winners for a variety of categories -
OVERALL WINNER and The Alex Walker's Serian Creatures of the Land Category Winner (Funniest pictures of wildlife which lives on the land) is:
"Not so cat-like reflexes" by Jennifer Hadley (USA)
“This 3 month old cub and his sibling were in a tree. The other lionesses were in other trees and on the ground. He wanted to get down and walked all over the branches looking for the right spot and finally just went for it. It was probably his first time in a tree and his descent didn't go so well. He was just fine though after landing on the ground. He got up and ran off with some other cubs.”
Spectrum Photo Creatures in the Air Award (birds, bats and any other creatures that fly)
Misleading African viewpoints 2 by Jean Jacques Alcalay (French)
“Hippo yawning next to a heron standing on the back of another hippo”
Junior Award ( category for kids with a talent for taking great and funny wildlife pictures. Age limit 18 years)
I CU boy ! by Arshdeep Singh (Indian)
“Few hundred miles away we went to explore wildlife of a small town named ‘Bikaner’. It was after almost a year I travelled because of covid. We hired a guide to explore places around. During last day of our trip we came across a pipe in a city where we spotted an owlet. I have earlier clicked owls in a pipe before so I was sure that I wasn’t mistake. We waited for a short while and it didn’t take a long time and one of the spotted owlet came out of the pipe. It was really funny when he came out and looked at me straight, before going inside he closed one of his eyes and felt like he wanted to say I CU boy ! and I immediately snapped a picture when he gave this pose.”
Creatures Under the Sea Award (category is for creatures which live in water including marine mammals, amphibians and reptiles and so on which live in water)
Say cheeeese by Arturo Telle Thiemann (Spanish)
“A couple of triggerfish looking into the camera, captured at the Azores.Even they may look funny, these fish can be quite aggressive. In this case they didn't attempt to bite me, but the domeport of my camera housing ended up with some scratches... life is hard... at least it wasn't me who was hurt”
Affinity Photo 2 People's Choice Award
Talk To The Fin! by Jennifer Hadley (USA)
“This was shot on the Falkland Islands. These two gentoo penguins were hanging out on the beach when one shook himself off and gave his mate the snub.”
Amazing Internet Portfolio Award (a collection of 4 images which are a collection, or portfolio, (that clue is in the category title) of really funny wildlife images)
Football Dream by Jia Chen
“Coopers Hawk, Ontario, Canada”
And then there were the HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNERS
Michael Eastwell (British)
Miroslav Srb. (Czech Republic)
Federica Vinci (Italian)
Jagdeep Rajput. (Indian)
Emmanuel Do Linh San (South African)
Ryan Sims (USA)
Alex Pansier (Dutch)
Mark Schocken (USA)
John Chaney (USA)
Martin Grace (British)
Check out their pictures by clicking on the link
https://www.comedywildlifephoto.com/gallery/comedy-wildlife-2022-competition-winners.php
All credit to The Comedy Wildlife
Also read: