Wild at heart
The world’s most prestigious wildlife photography competition had more than 50,000 entries from 95 countries, so the judges certainly had their work cut out.
At an online awards ceremony – this year was the second year in a row the event has been held virtually – the overall winner and all of the category finalists were revealed, and it was French underwater photographer and biologist Laurent Ballesta who was awarded the top prize, for his unusual and enigmatic image, ‘Creation’.
Ballesta’s overall winning image captures camouflage groupers exiting their milky cloud of eggs and sperm in Fakarava, French Polynesia. Meanwhile, ten-year-old Vidyun R Hebbar was awarded the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 for his image of a tent spider as a tuk-tuk passes by.
A total of 19 category winners were up for the two overall grand title awards, spanning everything from the natural world’s rich habitats, animal
