Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

Deadline Date: July 31, 2024

Donor Name: Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

Grant Size: Not Available

Entries are now open for the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards competition.

The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards has become a fixture on photographer’s competition calendar. Every year, they accept thousands of images from around the world for each category and receive global media coverage.

Comedy Wildlife was born from the need for a wildlife photography competition that was light-hearted, unpretentious and importantly, could make a difference to animals and their natural world.  Its founders realised that laughter was a uniquely effective tool to engage audiences of all ages and cultures with images of creatures they may never be able to see for themselves – and that the world could lose forever.

Competition Categories

• You can enter a total of up to 10 images, 4 portfolio entries and an additional 6 entries into the other categories, and 2 videos – that’s it, no more.
• You can enter up to 3 images into each category, except the Amazing Internet (and they are.) Portfolio category where you have to enter 4 pictures. 
• Another thing, remember if your pic is hilarious but in the wrong category, fret not. They will put it into the right category, simple as that, aren’t they nice?
  • Alex Walker’s Serian Mammals Category
    • Enter up to three of your funniest pictures of wildlife which lives on the land. Couldn’t be simpler. Don’t panic if the animal, like a squirrel or a bat, for example, looks like he is flying, it still lives on the land, so bung it in here.
  • Spectrum Photo Birds Category
    • You guessed it, birds, birds birds – seriously they get so many excellent ones flocking in – (geddit?) every year they’ve decided to give it a category all of its own.  Couldn’t be simpler – it’s about birds innit!
  • ThinkTANK Reptiles and Amphibians Category
    • After years of sharing this category with the world’s fish, (lovely as they are) finally, they have a proper home for all those lizards, snakes, toads, newts, turtles and chameleons that you enter each year!  Hopefully not much explanation needed here, and don’t worry Tom and PJ will spot any rogue entries and will pop them in the correct category, because they are both experts in their field, highly intelligent and knowledgeable and…hang on a minute. Get off the editing machine, you two!
  • Fish and Other Aquatic Species Category
    • Ok, you can put an underwater picture of an elephant swimming and farting at the same time, but they would move it into Mammal Category, so this one is for creatures (mainly fish, let’s be honest) which live in water.  Not next to it, near it or within a stone’s throw of it but actually in it.  Get those goggles and let’s see what you’ve got for this one.
  • Insects Category
    • Another new one this year, (they have been working hard) and mainly down to the popularity of the cheeky insects out there that make them laugh each year.  They felt they deserved their own space – so here they are.
  • Amazing Internet Portfolio Category
    • This is a brilliant category and to be honest a hard one. They want a collection of 4 images which are a collection, or portfolio, (that clue is in the category title) of really funny wildlife images. You can put 4 unconnected images in, as your portfolio, but you will get more points if the 4 images are connected, say “4 African Mammal Funny pics” for example, or they can be 4 images which are really funny from a single scene, I think you get where they are going with this one.
  • Nikon Junior Category (Under 16)
    • This is a category for kids with a talent for taking great and funny wildlife pictures. To enter this one you have to be 16 years old or less by 11.59pm July 31st 2024 (BST). If you’re not, don’t fret just enter another category but if you are, then go for it! I hope that makes sense! If you have a query, ping them an email; PJ and Tom (who run the competition and write this drivel are desperate for emails, as they have no friends.)
  • Nikon Young Photographer Category (Under 25)
    • This is a category for slightly older and bigger kids, but still young and keen to crack into the photography world.  You have to be 25 years old or under (definitely not over) by 11.59pm July 31st 2024 (BST). And they will be asking for hard, solid evidence if your image makes it through to the shortlist, so cheating.  Fluttering those eyelids will not work very well.
  • Video Clip Category
    • Listen carefully; this is the category where you can enter up to 2 video clips and each one can be no more than 60 seconds. They should be a maximum resolution of 1080p HD at 30fps with a maximum file size of 150MB but any resolution below that is acceptable too. Videos will be uploaded to Vimeo which accepts most major and popular video types. Please check the Vimeo website if you have any questions.
    • Please do not add music, captions or anything like that to the video (don’t worry about peoples voices that’s ok), but do make sure you edit it as judiciously (look it up, that’s what Google is for) as possible. Much better you send us a 15 second clip which is short, sharp and brilliant, rather than them having to trawl through 45 seconds of dull video to find the funny 10 seconds at the end. Edit it, it will increase your chance of success in the competition and the chances of the clip going viral, oh yeah, don’t forget that bit!!

Prizes

• Overall Competition Winner
  • As the Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Oh yes, it’s a massive title, you will be catapulted into the limelight and your image will delight and dazzle millions of people around the world (seriously!)  As top photographer you will win:
    • Kenyan Safari
      • Your prize will be a one week safari in Kenya for two people with Alex Walker’s Serian (the prize is to be used in one of their Masai Mara based camps in Kenya).
      • Alex Walker’s Serian intimate safari camps are among the best in Africa and most certainly in the best areas. So they will meet you off the plane and deliver you back, after a one week amazing experience. 
      • Terms and Conditions Apply. Naturally there are a couple of small conditions; the first is that your flights to and from Kenya are not covered. The other is that when you travel to Kenya and visit the Maasai Mara your companion will have to pay concession fees and the domestic flight, they are covering you, the Winner’s internal flight and concession fees. These are the fees that are paid by every visitor to the parks to assist in creating a sustainable form of wildlife conservation. So you don’t need to be sad about paying it, as you are helping the Kenyan Governments conservation mission.
    • Handmade Trophy
      • You will receive a wonderful hand made metal trophy as the Winner from the Wonder Workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and a beautiful certificate.
• Nikon Junior Category Winner (under 16)
  • Z 30 + 16-50mm VR kit from Nikon
    • As winner of this category you will receive an amazing Z 30 Nikon Camera plus lense.  This could be the one thing that has been missing in your young photography career so far and maybe, just maybe it will propell your photography onto a whole new level and ensure that you are well on the way to becoming a fully blown camera nerd.  Welcome to the family!
• Nikon Young Photographer Category Winner (under 25)
  • Z 8 + 24-120mm kit from Nikon
    • This is a seriously good prize and rightly so, because this is a really hard category to win.  But if you do, then courtesy of Nikon Europe, they will give you a Z 8 Nikon Camera and Kit, an incredible full-frame hybrid camera with image quality, precision and flexibility in a company and lightweight body.  If you win this..and someone will…then there will be no excuses, nowhere to hide..you will be itching to create some stunning, more award winning images and will have an awesome time doing it. 
  • Brand New iPad pre-loaded with Affinity Photo 2 editing software      
    • In addition, the winner of the Young Photographer Award will also receive the latest iPad fully loaded with the fantastic and best selling photo editing software courtesy of Affinity Photo 2. This award winning no subscription photo editor is the first choice of millions of creative and photography professionals around the world and has everything you need to edit and retouch images.
• Portfolio Category Winner prize
  • Website
    • Your prize (yes!) is a wonderful Portfolio Series website from Amazing Internet for one year. Portfolio Series was created specifically for photographers so this is an ideal opportunity to show off and sell your amazing photos!
• All Other Category Winners
  • BackLight 26L backpacks
    • Courtesy of Think Tank Photo, these best selling backpacks are the business, keep everything in its place and ensure you will never lose a lense again!

Eligibility Criteria

• The free competition, open to wildlife photography novices, amateurs and professionals, celebrates the hilarity of their natural world and highlights what they need to do to protect it. From a surprised otter to a swearing turtle, Comedy Wildlife’s photographs transcend cultures and ages to bring a smile to everyone’s face.

For more information, visit Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.