Nature
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The winner of the Sterna People’s Choice Award of the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards has been announced, beating out 40 other images shortlisted from the 2025 competition. While the overall winner and other category winners of the awards are chosen by a panel of judges, this award is decided solely on the public vote.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content."Winning the Sterna People’s Choice Award means a lot to me. It was really exciting to get into the finals with my gannet and I was honoured to get a Highly Commended. However, being awarded this category is something else and I am really chuffed and grateful to all the people who voted for me – not forgetting to mention how much fun I had – it is The Nikon Wildlife Comedy Awards after all!" said winner Alison Tuck in a statement sent to IFLScience.
Tuck’s photo captures a gannet at just the right moment as a windy day blows vegetation straight into the bird’s face. The image was captured at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire during the nesting season. Gannets breed at just a few cliffside locations around the UK and spend most of the rest of the year out at sea.
Other contenders in the competition this year included Harry Szwinto’s image of an Sri Lankan elephant playing peek-a-boo with its ears over its eyes.
.jpg "A Sri Lankan elephant hides it face behind its ears")
There was also Geoff Martin’s image of a southern yellow-billed hornbill mid-flight, taken at a hide in Zimanga, South Africa. Martin had actually arrived to try and capture the nearby white-backed vultures, but the hornbill came and stole the show with a little help from a Harris hawk.
“The hornbill's expression appears to be one of sheer panic suggesting the hawk is eyeing the hornbill up for breakfast,” said Martin. “Having both birds in the photo helps sell the story and increase the sense of urgency of the hornbill. Don’t worry, the hornbill departed unscathed!”
Four different images of lions made it into the final phases include Massimo Felici’s photograph titled “Darling, please stop!”. Taken on safari in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, the subsequent thunderstorm and impressive rainfall made for this image as the male soaks the female in droplets from his mane.
The judged winner of the Comedy Wildlife Awards, announced in December 2025, was Mark Meth-Cohn’s image of a young gorilla practicing its karate in the Virunga Mountains of Rwanda. These gorillas also feature in the latest David Attenborough documentary from Netflix.
“One young male was especially keen to show off his acrobatic flair: pirouetting, tumbling, and high kicking. Watching his performance was pure joy, and I’m thrilled to have captured his playful spirit in this image,” said Meth-Cohn.
The 2026 competition is now open and anyone can enter. For more details, click here.
