Bird Photographer of the Year, the world’s largest competition devoted to images of birds, returns in 2026 with more than 24,000 entries that span diving penguins, urban denizens, mating rituals, and dramatic flights. Alongside celebrating avian form and behavior, the program underscores threats driven by human-triggered habitat loss, poaching, pollution, and other factors. Categories range from Best Portrait and Bird Behavior to Conservation and Urban Birds, plus three youth categories for photographers aged 17 years and younger.
An underwater dive takes top honors
The Overall Winner is Henley Spiers for “Sunball Rocket,” awarded Gold in Birds in the Environment. The underwater image captures a northern gannet off the Shetland Islands, about 110 miles north of mainland Scotland. These large seabirds, which nest on steep cliffs and rocks, are a common sight around Scotland, which is home to around 40 percent of the world’s population. Some massive colonies have suffered severe losses due to bird flu, an outbreak that may take 15 years to recover from. Spiers photographs the bird from beneath the surface as it zeroes in on prey. “When fish are spotted, the gannets fly into the wind and stretch out their wings as brakes, precisely adjusting their position in relation to their quarry. Moments later, with wings tucked in tightly, the gannet shape-shifts into a pointed torpedo, diving into the water at speeds of up to 86km/h,” said Spiers. That’s over 50 miles per hour.
Category standouts across habitats and ages
Across the contest’s sections, photographers framed birds in deserts, cities, coastlines, and polar waters. A selection of honorees:
- Best Portrait: Gold to Thomas Deliberto, “Radiant” (Greater sage-grouse, Utah, U.S.); Bronze to David Stowe, “Tiny Dancer” (Western parotia, Mingre, West Papua, Indonesia). Silver to Volker Widmann, “Sunset Puffin” (Atlantic puffin, Skomer Island, U.K.).
- Bird Behavior: Gold to Donald Chin, “I’m Keeping Everyone Dry” (Tawny frogmouth, Perth, Australia); Silver to Mark Carwardine, “Spread Eagle” (Bald eagle, Great Bear Rainforest, Canada).
- Birds in the Environment: Overall Winner and Gold to Henley Spiers, “Sunball Rocket” (Northern gannet, Shetland, Scotland, U.K.). Bronze to Romain Barats, “Back to Fishing” (Gentoo penguin, Charcot Bay, Antarctica).
- Birds in Flight: Gold to Ivan Sjögren, “Eye-to-Eye with a Short-Eared Owl” (Short-eared owl, British Colombia, Canada).
- Black and White: Gold to Rahul Sachdev, “An Ostrich Horizon” (Ostrich, Amboseli, Kenya).
- Conservation (Single Image): Gold to Kent Stuart, “Not a Good Fishing Day” (Great blue heron, Washington, New Jersey, U.S.).
- Urban Birds: Gold to Gianluca Damiani, “Alter Ego” (Yellow-legged gull, Rome, Italy).
- Youth 12-14 Years: Gold to Paula Czaeczine, “Acrobat of the Skies” (Red-necked phalarope, Rost, Lofoten, Norway).
All images are © the artists, courtesy of Bird Photographer of the Year. Winners can be viewed on the Bird Photographer of the Year website, with updates shared on Instagram.
