"Seal's Horror" won the grand prize of the environmental photo contest
Norwegian wildlife photographer Audun Rikardsen's photograph "Seal's Terror" won the grand prize at the Our Nature Environmental Photo & Video Awards 2026. Captured from underwater, the shot depicts a polar bear looking directly at the camera through an opening in the Arctic ice.
"The Terror of the Seal" won the grand prize of the environmental photo contest
The contest is dedicated to photo and video stories capturing nature and human interaction with the environment. Among the works awarded this year are images on the themes of animal rescue, night forest life, and renewable energy.
Belgian documentary photographer Alain Schroeder was awarded the best photo essay prize for his series "Saving Orangutans." Taken on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, the photographs depict the process of helping orangutans affected by habitat loss, human conflict, and the illegal wildlife trade.
The series illustrates the stages of emergency care, veterinary procedures, rehabilitation, and preparing the animals for return to the wild. The images show the complexity of this process and the hard work of conservation specialists.
In the "Pure Nature - Air" category, Jan Pokluda's photograph depicting a woodpecker and its chick emerged as the winner. The moment when the bird returns with food to its young in the hollow of an old oak tree was captured. The unusually low location of the nest allowed the photographer to capture this scene from a rare angle.
In the "Carpathian Basin" category, Imre Potó's photograph of the night forest received recognition. Using a long exposure of 108 seconds, the photographer captured the light trails of butterflies in flight against the backdrop of a moonlight forest.