15 Stunning Wildlife Finalists from Sony Photography Awards 2026 Capture Rare Moments in the Wild
Every moment, a new story is unfolding in different parts of the world. In Japan, a frog hitches a ride on a fish. In Chile, a hungry puma lunges at a guanaco. A Southern elephant seal pup in the Falkland Islands relaxes in the water. The Sony World Photography Awards received a motley of poetic images as submissions. Out of more than 430,000 images submitted from 200 countries, judge Ruby Rees-Sheridan from National Portrait Gallery of the UK recently announced the top 100 winners of the 2026 Open Competition, in 10 diverse categories. In the “Natural World & Wildlife” category, 14 finalists were shortlisted. The 15th and the winning title went to an evasive fox as she stared into the eye of a storm.
1. Arctic Fox in Blizzard by Klaus Hellmich
Photographed in Varanger Peninsula in Norway, the winning photo reveals an elusive blue Arctic fox with its profile perched on a snow-capped field, half-illuminated by light while the other half is drowned in shadow. On a cinematic background dominated by charcoal blue tone, the fox gazes in the face of the storm, getting bombarded by spindly needle-like crystals of the blizzard.
2. Untitled by Samuel Round
In Charlecote in Warwickshire, UK, a reddish-brown deer was caught during a moment of what appears to be a self-grooming ritual. Against a blurred background, the deer seems to be playfully caressing its body by rubbing its head against it and licking at the tan coat.
3. Are You Good Friends? By Daichi Shimada
In what seems like a scene from a children’s storybook, two residents of a mountain river in Japan got into a whimsical interaction. A stream brown frog, a bachelor male, emerging from hibernation, was too eager to find a mate that it clung to a fish drifting downstream. The photograph shows the desperate frog hopped atop the body of an unsuspecting yamame trout, who appears puzzled by his abrupt and nosy behavior. Up above, gnarly branches of a tree paint patterned silhouettes on the blue sky.
4. At The Edge by Wouter van Hofwegen
An insight-worthy postcard recorded from the edge of an Antarctic ice floe. A tawny-colored polar bear stands at the edge, looking up at the sky, an expression of both hope and resilience amid the climate crisis. Underneath its feet, crumbling pieces of ice swim in the crystal blue waters.
5. Waving Squirrel by Stan Bouman
“Hi!” The golden-brown squirrel is probably saying this in the photograph as one of her paws lifts in a waving gesture. The squirrel is perched on what looks like a broken tree log. Curious black eyes, long, fringing whiskers, distinctive ear tufts, and an expression so playful, it seems unsurprising that it took Stan more than 40 hours and 4,000 exposures to capture this perfect shot.
6. Layers by Scott Portelli
Overlapping folds, textures, and patterns, shiny silver-grey hairs, a thick layer of blubber; Scott meticulously arrested these details in a close-up shot of a Weddell seal, a fascinating detail illustrating the cosmic geometry of nature.
7. Untitled by Tim Munsey
On a mysterious cliff in the mountains of Bulgaria, a golden jackal got into a squabble with a griffon vulture, and Munsey couldn’t let this drama disappear just like that. His photograph unveils a melodramatic spectacle as the vulture stares down at the jackal with haughty eyes, its golden-black plumage spread proudly against the powder-blue sky. Below, the angry jackal has latched the vulture’s paw in its mouth, its conical white teeth exposed from the side.
8. Power Bite by Kevin Shi
A sensational shot that captures the tantalizing predator-prey dynamics that unfold almost regularly in Chile’s Torres de Paine. A fierce puma mom launched herself on top of a modest-looking guanaco. The shot showcases her cinnamon-colored profile clinging to her prey, her paws tightly wrapped around its neck, her tail dangling below, and her predatory mouth pecking a bite at the neck of the innocent animal. A small ruffle of hair flies in the background, suggesting that the predatory mom is not going to let this delicious meal go.
9. Horner Night Trail by Vishal Naveen
In what appears like a Taurus card from a zodiac deck, the silhouette of an African buffalo emerges from the dark, velvety night. Intense backlight crashes upon its bulky body, highlighting the curves. Glowing glints of electric blue light outline the hook-like shape of its horns. Meanwhile, a bat behind it gets captured in the slow-shutter flash, as it makes a ribbon-like pattern during the flight.
10. Crowning of the King by Huajin Sun
Huajin’s snapshot looks like the real version of Disney’s The Lion King. At the break of dawn, a victorious “milu king” stands against the bright orange Sun in the slate blue sky, its mouth opening in a triumphant roar. The silhouettes of its antlers seem to be holding the Sun like an ornamented bowl. Around its legs is a herd of does resting and worshipping the glorious king.
11. The Eye: Window to the Soul by Chung Cheong Wong
Someone looks cautious! Blakiston’s fish owl, a nocturnal bird of prey that usually relies on its sense of hearing, reveals one of its sapphire-yellow eyes through a cluster of flight feathers, signaling alertness and vigilance.
12. Green Eye by Giacomo Marchione
A notorious green-eyed goby fish lurked inside a coral and camouflaged its body in a way that only its two green eyes remained visible. From where Giacomo was spying on the scene, the tiny green eyes seemed to cast a deceptive web of their reflections across the coral, making it seem as if zillions of ghostly green eyes were glowing in the mystical-looking water.
13. Atelopus Seminiferus by Juan Jacobo Castillo Barrera
On a wet, grassy patch in San Martín, Peru, a male Stubfoot Toad was keenly trying to attract a mate with his song when Juan impishly caught his gesture on the camera. The pink and grey body of the love-struck frog resting on the patch, its big button-like eyes staring on the sides, eager for a female. At the bottom, tiny yellow buds jutted upwards, tickling his foot.
14. Rockpool Sanctuary by Lisa Skelton
A cute Southern elephant seal pup in the Falkland Islands is sloshing in a lush kelp forest. Its glossy black body inclined towards the sky, its hairy whiskers jumping outwards from the mouth, while the rest of the body is submerged in the icy lagoon, a candid episode registered from the enigmatic wildlife drama.
15. Mischief At Her Side by Elizabeth Yicheng Shen
By the time the kittens were done with their morning playtime, their Pallas’s cat mom arrived with a fresh rodent prey dangling from her mouth. The picture documented the theatrical moment of motherhood as the youngsters rushed to cuddle in their mama’s fierce, protective embrace. It displays the savage-looking mom lounging on a giant rock while one of the kittens cuddles with her, mischief dripping from its juvenile eyes.
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