Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018: the winning pictures

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The winners of the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition have been announced at a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.

The Grand Title prize was awarded to Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten, whose portrait of two endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys in China’s Qinling mountains is described as “stunning” by The Guardian. Van Oosten also took home first prize in the Animal Portraits category.

The museum’s panel of expert judges selected the winners from a total of more than 45,000 entries from around the world. It was a particularly strong year for Spanish photographers, who claimed seven top prizes across the 19 categories.

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Young snappers offered some standout images, too. In the 15-17 Years Old category, South Africa’s Skye Meake, 16, claimed the top prize with Lounging Leopard. Indian schoolboy Arshdeep Singh, ten, won in the Ten Years and Under category for what the Daily Mirror calls his “brilliantly self-explanatory” photo, Pipe Owls.

Animal welfare issues were highlighted by photographer Joan de la Malla’s The Sad Clown, which claimed the Wildlife Photojournalism prize. The photo shows a long-tailed macaque struggling with a mask that it has been forced to wear by a street performer in Indonesia.

All of the images were chosen for their “artistic composition, technical innovation and truthful interpretation of the natural world”, according to the judges.

An exhibition of the winning images and runners-up is being held at the museum, in Kensington, from 19 October, with tickets available online.

Click on the gallery above to view this year’s winners.