Category Theme
The natural world is vast, complex, and under constant pressure. Your role is to reveal it with clarity and purpose.
From the smallest insect to the largest mammal, from the depths of the ocean to the open sky, life on Earth exists in extraordinary diversity. Every species is shaped by its environment – adapted, resilient, and interconnected.
Wildlife photography is more than observation. It demands patience, respect, and awareness. A powerful image can celebrate beauty, document behaviour, or expose fragility.
This category challenges you to go beyond the obvious encounter. Build a portfolio that not only showcases wildlife, but communicates something meaningful about its existence – its environment, its challenges, and its future. Show us the wild world – honestly and impactfully.
What subjects can you include?
Submit a portfolio of four images (colour or black & white) that explore wildlife in a thoughtful and cohesive way.
Your work might include:
- Animals, birds, insects, or marine life – large or small
- Species captured as portraits, close-ups, or within their natural habitat
- Behavioural moments – feeding, movement, interaction, or survival
- Underwater, terrestrial, or aerial perspectives
- Environmental context that shows the relationship between species and habitat
- Conservation stories – both challenges and successes Avoid isolated, purely aesthetic shots.
Your portfolio should reveal connection and context – showing not only what these creatures are, but how they live, adapt, and endure. Capture the beauty, the tension, and the reality of the natural world with honesty and intent.
By entering this category twice, or entering this category once plus one of the other four-image portfolio in any category, you will automatically be given a FREE entry for the overall winner of the 2026 awards and be considered for the top award and the title of Travel Photographer of the Year 2026.
ALL finalists in the portfolio categories will be considered for one of three special judges’ awards. The three selected finalists (who can come from any of the four portfolio categories) will have a portfolio review by a leading New York photographer’s agent.
What are the judges looking for?
Your images should capture any aspect of the natural world, showing either its beauty and magnificence or its fraglity in the struggles it faces with a changing climate, habitat or the conflicts with people. We want to see originality and the story of your chosen species told through your images.
How many images?
Four images per portfolio.
Am I eligible?
This category is open to all photographers aged 19 and above.
How many times can I enter?
You can enter this category as many times as you like.
What is the category entry fee?
Entry options:
TPOTY Pass – unlimited entries until 16th July 2026 for a single £99 fee
- £28 for one four-image portfolio entry
OR ENTERING MORE THAN ONE PORTFOLIO
- £36 for two four-image portfolios.
OR
- Two Plus Four’ 12-image combination of 4 One Shot entries and 2 four-image portfolios entered at the same time for £59 (full price £104 if entered individually).
Do I need to shoot new material to be able to enter this category?
No! We have always allowed entrants to submit images from their archives – i.e. contemporary photography shot in recent years – and have always said that ‘travel starts when you leave your home’. So it’s your choice. You can travel locally or travel further afield. Entries close on 12th October.
Digital Manipulation
Please see the information on digital manipulation and note that entrants who are shortlisted as finalists will be required to provide the original image files (RAW or jpeg as shot).
No AI generated images will be allowed and any entered will be disqualified.
Prizes
The winner of this category will receive £750 plus Radiant Photo imaging software.
The judges will also select their favourite image from all the submitted portfolios. The winner of the Best Single Image award for each portfolio category receives a Genesis Imaging giclée exhibition print.
Special portfolio category award: ALL finalists in the portfolio categories will be considered for one of three special judges’ awards. The three selected finalists (who can come from any of the four portfolio categories) will have a portfolio review by a leading New York photographer’s agent, Frank Meo.
Header Image © JOSHUA HOLKO
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