Winner: “Grey Crowned Cranes” by Steve Mattheis, USA
The Nature’s Best Photography Awards 2025 once again showcase breathtaking moments from the wild, captured across the globe.
This year’s winners highlight how patience and timing can transform fleeting encounters into timeless visual poetry. Steve Mattheis of the USA won the Bird Photography category with his stunning shot of Grey Crowned Cranes mid-dance, a scene he describes as “a flirtatious ballet.” In the Wildlife Photography category, India’s Hira Punjabi triumphed with a powerful portrait of two male jaguars in the Pantanal, achieved after six demanding days of pursuit. From Arctic foxes to African sunsets, these award-winning images honor the raw beauty and rhythm of nature itself.
More: Nature’s Best Photography Awards, Instagram
Highly Honored: “Prairie Chicken Jump-Off” by Peter Hudson, USA
Highly Honored: “Greater Flamingos” by Lakshitha Karunarathna, Sri Lanka
Highly Honored: “Squacco Herons” by Antonio Aguti, Italy
Highly Honored: “Red-breasted Parakeets” by Tze Siong Tan, Singapore
Highly Honored: “Bohemian Waxwings” by Amy Gerber of Cody, USA
Highly Honored: “Drongos in Flames” by Baiju Patil, India
Winner: “Male Jaguars” by Hira Punjabi, India
Highly Honored: “African Elephant & Calf” by Torie Hilley, USA
Highly Honored: “Desert Kit Fox Pup with Feather” by Beaumon Day, USA
Highly Honored: “Ring-tailed Lemurs” by Bence Máté, Hungary
Highly Honored: “Brown Lemurs” by Donglin Zhou, China
Highly Honored: “Hippopotamus” by Samir Kamat, USA
Highly Honored: “Giraffes” by Amy Gerber, USA
Highly Honored: “Young Gorilla Nap Time” by David Swindler, USA
Highly Honored: “Flying Foxes” by Baiju Patil, India
Highly Honored: “Sumatran Orangutan on Strangler Fig” by Marco Gaiotti, Italy
Highly Honored: “Bighorn Sheep” by David Swindler, USA
Highly Honored: “Red Squirrel, Finland” by Simon Roberts, UK
Highly Honored: “African Elephant Clan” by Kathy Karn, Canada