SCUBAHUB
Lennart Verheuvel , winner bigger picture category - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023
Bertie Gregory , winner behaviour-mammals category - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023
Underwater stars shine at WPOTY
Mike Korostelev , winner underwater category - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023
Laurent Ballesta - Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023
A HAUNTING IMAGE OF A TRIspine horseshoe crab has won French photographer Laurent Ballesta the Natural History Museum ’ s Wildlife Photographer of the Year .
Selected from 49,957 entries from 95 countries , Ballesta is now one of only two photographers to have been awarded the Grand Title award twice in the competition ’ s 59-year history .
His image , entitled ‘ The golden horseshoe ’ aims to highlight the plight of the golden horseshoe crab , which has survived for over 100 million years but is now facing habitat loss as well as overfishing for food and its blue blood .
Speaking on the winning photograph , chair of the competition ’ s jury , Kathy Moran said the image was ‘ luminescent ’.
“ We are looking at an ancient species , highly endangered , and also critical to human health . To see a horseshoe crab so vibrantly alive in its natural habitat , in such a hauntingly beautiful way , was astonishing .”
The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023 featured a total of 16 categories , from which the overall Grand Title winner was selected . Among this year ’ s category winners , Russian photographer Mike Korostelev was awarded the Underwater Photographer of the Year title for his intimate image of a hippopotamus and her two offspring resting in the shallows of a clear-water lake in South Africa .
All of this year ’ s winning photographs , including the overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year , can now be viewed at a special exhibition at the National History Museum in London , which runs until 30 June 2024 .
The museum is also looking for entries for the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition , which features over 16 categories , including underwater . Closing date for entries is 7 December 2023 . For more details and to enter go to www . nhm . ac . uk / wpy
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