What the Wild Knows

↑ WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR — NUVEEN PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD 2026

By Selina Sahba | April 2026

Four images. Four photographers. One unflinching look at instinct, survival, and the world we share.

The natural world doesn’t deal in simple terms. It’s a place of sharp contrasts, where play borders on predation, endurance is measured in seasons, and beauty shows up right in the shadow of human expansion. That complexity is exactly what makes the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award 2026 so compelling. Selected from a record-breaking 85,917 public votes, these images do more than document wildlife. They give us an unflinching look at the fragile, fierce reality of life on Earth.

“The Iberian lynx is a living symbol of hope, showing what can happen when we take responsibility, act consciously and focus our attention where it is most needed.”

JOSEF STEFAN, WINNER — WPY NUVEEN PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2026

At the heart of this collection is the raw energy of youth. In the contest’s winning image Flying Rodent, Josef Stefan captures a young Iberian lynx tossing a rodent into the air before devouring it. Taken from a hide in Ciudad Real, Spain, the image also carries a conservation story. In the early 2000s, the Iberian lynx was on the brink of extinction; today there are over 2,000. But the photograph isn’t sentimental. It’s a pure, predatory game that lasted twenty minutes, and for Stefan, the realization of a dream he’d carried for years.

THE WEIGHT OF SURVIVAL

Kohei Nagira’s Never-ending Struggle offers a visceral look at what survival can actually cost. On Japan’s Notsuke Peninsula, a male sika deer was photographed carrying the interlocked, severed head of a rival it had defeated in an autumn clash. For months, the deer dragged this macabre weight around, continuing to forage and somehow surviving the harsh Hokkaido winter. It’s an image where life and death are literally bound together.

Close up portrait of a deer with large antlers against a clean white background. — *Never-ending Struggle* A sika deer carries the interlocked severed head of a rival male on Notsuke Peninsula, Hokkaido, Japan. The deer survived the winter despite the burden. Highly Commended. © Kohei Nagira / WPY

Christopher Paetkau’s Family Rest is a quieter kind of endurance. A mother polar bear and her three cubs are pressed together on a rocky outcrop along the Hudson Bay coast, resting after their long journey north. It looks peaceful, but the context is urgent. With shrinking sea ice making hunting harder every year, this moment of rest is shadowed by the uncertain future of a species trying to navigate a rapidly changing climate.

Overhead view of polar bear mother and cub resting together on rocky ground. — *Family Rest* A mother polar bear and her three cubs pause in the summer heat on the Hudson Bay coast, Canada. Shrinking sea ice is making survival increasingly difficult for the species. Highly Commended. © Christopher Paetkau / WPY

BEAUTY IN THE BROKEN LANDSCAPE

That changing landscape is most obvious in Alexandre Brisson’s Beauty Against the Beast. Brisson drove ten hours to a bird sanctuary in Walvis Bay, Namibia, arriving at sunset to the overwhelming smell of a nearby open-air dump. Yet against that industrial backdrop of receding power lines and waste, lesser flamingos gathered in a shallow channel and two of them took flight. Their graceful forms against the dusk sky are a stark reminder that even protected spaces carry the marks of human expansion.

Flamingos gather in a water basin beneath power lines at sunset as two birds fly overhead in a pastel sky. — *Beauty Against the Beast* Lesser flamingos gather and take flight against a stark backdrop of power lines at sunset in Walvis Bay, Namibia. The nearby open-air dump stands in sharp contrast to the sanctuary’s purpose. Highly Commended. © Alexandre Brisson / WPY

These photographs ask us to look a little closer at the world we share. They aren’t just beautiful compositions; they’re records of resilience, instinct, and the undeniable impact of our presence. Over 85,000 people voted, and that says something. Photography is an act of sustained attention, and these five images show exactly what that attention can reveal.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London.

The winner and four runners-up are on display in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, until Sunday 12 July 2026. View the exhibition →

IMAGE CREDITS

Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London. The winner and four runners-up are on display in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum, London, until Sunday 12 July 2026. View the exhibition → Image Credits Flying Rodent © Josef Stefan / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Never-ending Struggle © Kohei Nagira / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Family Rest © Christopher Paetkau / Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Beauty Against the Beast © Alexandre Brisson / Wildlife Photographer of the Year