The shortlist for the 2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards has been published, and it confirms the competition's transformation from a modest conservation initiative into a genuinely global event. Organisers received more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries, the highest total in the awards' history.
The finalists span four categories: 40 individual photographs, three entries in the under-16 competition, four portfolios and nine videos. The images range from a crocodile apparently channelling Elvis Presley to a leopard executing a handstand and orangutans caught in poses that seem to involve a rude gesture.
From the Serengeti to a global platform
Tom Sullam, co-founder of the awards, traced the competition's origins to the plains of the Serengeti, where it began as a small effort to raise awareness of wildlife conservation. "What began as a small effort to raise awareness of wildlife conservation has grown into something far bigger than we ever imagined," he said.
Sullam added that the competition is now truly global and that, a decade or so on, the ambition is to make it "even bigger, funnier, and more far-reaching than ever." He described humour as a deliberate tool: "We use humour to get people to feel empathy towards wildlife, and it's that empathy that creates behavioural change for the better."
The strategy appears to be working. A competition that once relied on word of mouth now attracts submissions from every continent, and the shortlist functions as a de facto global survey of amateur and professional wildlife photography. For European audiences, the awards also sit within a wider boom in nature-focused travel and observation, from wildlife road trips across the continent to the growing popularity of organised wildlife encounters.
Selected finalists
The shortlist includes work by photographers from Europe and beyond. Among the individual finalists are:
- Dirk Koster – The different one
- Andy Parkinson – Hercules, the baboon
- Andy Rouse – Doris in her hat
- Diego Perez – Sexy Mantis
- Eigil B Jensen – Fish-headed bird
- Kevin Lohman – Are You Kidding Me?
- Kyo Chen – A Very Pressured Spadefish
- Lynn Emery – Two birds one vision
- Marek Jackowski – Smile
- Shailza Singhal – Just a gentle nudge
- Udo Harms – Little Godzilla
- Tanner Mansell – Spicy Orangutan
- Paolo Torre – Elvis
- Homi Sahana – The Handstand
The titles alone suggest the range of comic timing on display, from anthropomorphic portraiture to split-second accidents of framing. The under-16, portfolio and video categories add further variety, with the video shortlist in particular reflecting the growing overlap between still photography and short-form moving image.
What happens next
The winners will be announced on 8 December at an awards evening in London. A free exhibition of the 2026 finalists will then run from 9 to 13 December at Gallery@Oxo on the South Bank, giving the public a chance to see the images at full scale rather than on a screen.
For the organisers, the exhibition is as important as the ceremony. Conservation messaging delivered through laughter tends to travel further than earnest campaigning, and the London show places the work in front of an audience that might not otherwise engage with wildlife photography. Whether the subject is a spadefish under pressure or a baboon named Hercules, the aim is the same: to make people look twice, and then care.
