Advertisements Like every year, the contest received entries from all corners of the globe, more precisely: from 20 countries across six continents. But there can only be one overall winner, and this year, it’s Thomas Vijayan from Canada. His beautiful image of the endangered Bornean orangutan brought him the top award and cash prize of $1,000.

Thomas says that he spent hours up a tree, waiting to see if one of the local orangutans would use it to cross over to a nearby island. And it did! So he used the opportunity to capture a unique image of the beautiful animal, and his patience was well worth the wait. Other than the overall prize, this photo also made Thomas the winner of the Animals in their habitat contest category. Speaking of categories, there are 13 of them: The World Nature Photography Awards were founded on the belief that we can all make small efforts to shape the future of our planet in a positive way. Its founders also believe that photography can influence people to see the world from a different perspective and change their own habits for the good of the planet. You can take a look at all category winners below. And if you’d like to see one of your photos in the selection, go ahead and submit your entries for this year’s contest on WNPA’s website.

Animal Portraits

Animal Portraits

Animal Portraits

Animals in their habitat

Animals in their habitat

Animals in their habitat

Behaviour amphibians and reptiles

Behaviour amphibians and reptiles

Behaviour amphibians and reptiles

Behaviour birds

Behaviour birds

Behaviour birds

Behaviour Invertebrates

Behaviour Invertebrates

Behaviour Invertebrates

Behaviour Mammals

Behaviour Mammals

Behaviour Mammals

Black and white

Black and white

Black and white

Nature art

Nature art

Nature art

Nature photojournalism

Nature photojournalism

Nature photojournalism

People and nature

People and nature

People and nature

Planet Earth’s landscape and environments

Planet Earth’s landscape and environments

Planet Earth’s landscape and environments

Plants and fungi

Plants and fungi

Plants and fungi

Urban wildlife

Urban wildlife

Urban wildlife