The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled the finalist images from its iconic Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The winners will be announced in a televised ceremony on 8 October, and the London Museum will open its new edition on 11 October 2024, with an exhibition featuring 100 nature photographs captured by photographers from around the world.
This year, the competition broke records with 59,228 images submitted by participants from 117 countries, judged by an international panel of experts who assessed the creativity, originality and technical excellence of each entry. To commemorate this anniversary, the exhibition will include a timeline of highlights from the competition’s history. In addition, the Impact Awards have been introduced, in both youth and adult categories, to recognize these positive and successful stories of wildlife conservation.
Among the images chosen as the best of the year are the first award-winning photograph taken with a mobile phone and striking wildlife captures, such as the life cycle of a mule deer, the complex relationship between lions mating or the moment a shark is hauled aboard a fishing boat in the South Atlantic.
Here are some of them:
