Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Oil beetle pose © Juan Jesus Gonzalez Ahumada	Backs in, fronts out © Esa Malkonen

Press Release:

The 2010 global search for the very best images of nature has been completed. Today, the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine reveal two of the images that will help make up this year’s most prestigious showcase of wildlife photography, Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Oil beetle pose by Juan Jesus Gonzalez Ahumada is highly commended in the Animal Portraits category and captures a black oil beetle clinging to a sprig of gorse on a cold spring morning. Close up, the beetle reminded the Spanish photographer of a beautiful alien, its abdomen almost certainly full of eggs.

Esa Malkonen’s image Backs in, fronts out is highly commended in the Nature in Black and White category and depicts the comings and goings of chinstrap penguins in a rookery in Antarctica. Having paired up, a male and female will devise a rota so that one sits on the eggs for up to five days at a time, while the other walks back to the sea to feed.

The competition, owned by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine has been running since 1964 and is widely regarded as the most prestigious of its type. Each year an exhibition of winning, runner-up and commended images makes its debut at the Natural History Museum in London before touring Britain and venues around the world. More than one million visitors are expected to have seen the exhibition once the tour is complete.

Chairman of the judging panel, Mark Carwardine said, ‘Now in its 46th year, the competition has become the international measure for great wildlife photography. It plays a crucial role in raising the profile of wildlife photography and stimulating an awareness of nature conservation as the pictures are seen by millions of people around the world.’

The two preview images will be available for publication from Thursday 19 August to coincide with the opening of ticket sales for the exhibition. For more information please visit the Natural History Museum website.