The funniest photography competition in the world announced their winners and the grand prize winner was a kangaroo playing air guitar.
Up against 5,300 entries from 85 countries, Jason Moore from Australia with his ‘Air Guitar Roo’ prevailed in the closest voting ever.
Taken in the outer suburbs of Perth, Jason visited a yellow field of wildflowers where a “mob” of adult kangaroos and joeys were playing and feeding—and apparently listening to music.
“When I saw this Roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special. “
As the Comedy Wildlife Photographer of the Year champion, Jason won a safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya, and other prizes.
The competition was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, both professional photographers and conservationists to create a fun and free-to-enter photography competition unlike any other.
6 Category Winners included the Junior Category, won by 16-year-old Jacek Stankiewicz with his image of two greenfinches in Poland called ‘Dispute’, which also took home this year’s People’s Choice Award.
“I caught this scene in the Bialowieza Forest while watching birds that looked like they were having argument,” said the young Polish man. “My friends interpret this scene, (saying) ‘One kid is reporting to the parent that its brother did something wrong.”
There were also 10 Highly Commended Winners, including the entry above from France called Snowball. “Taken in Spitzberg during a very cold winter, the white grouse is coming to me and looked like a snowball with eyes,” recalled Jacques Poulard.
‘The Rainforest Dandy’ was taken in a monkey forest in Ubud, Bali by Delphine Casimir.
“This place is a crazy place where monkeys are king! sometimes they give a show, sometimes, they climb on you to look for fleas or steal the piece of biscuit you are trying to eat,” she said. “Their kingdom has three hindu temples. Maybe our dandy is the reicarnation of a divinity?”
‘The Happy Turtle Dragonfly’ was shot in the Jezreel Valley in Israel by Tzahi Finkelstein who mused, “The swamp turtle is surprised and smiles at the dragonfly resting on its nose.”
Taken at Westerfolds Park—a surprisingly wild pocket of land in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia—a mob of kangaroo was enjoying some morning sunshine when this joey decided to get silly and try his hand at boxing.
And finally, this gannet family was a touching winner from the UK. Each year between March and October, around half a million seabirds use the Bempton chalk cliffs towering above the North Sea to nest and raise a family.
Gannets mate for life and they return to the same nest year after year to raise their young. Zoe Ashdown described how she got the winning shot:
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“Lying safely at the top of the cliff face I was able to observe the affection shown between the gannets each time one returned to the nest.
“They have a greeting ritual: they rub beaks and entwine their necks; it’s how they strengthen their bond. But it’s also a brilliant opportunity to catch them in various poses.
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“As soon as I saw (this capture) I laughed out loud! They look like proud parents, posing with their baby – definitely one for the family album!”
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