16–18 years
Golden stag
PHOTOGRAPHER
Thomas Durrant
CATEGORY
16–18 years – Winner 2025
DESCRIPTION
I’d been searching for this image for some time. Here, everything came together: the stag, the light, the positioning. The golden outline shrouds the individual in mystery, while maintaining the iconic outline.
Lovers in the mist
PHOTOGRAPHER
Thomas Durrant
CATEGORY
16–18 years – Runner-up 2025
DESCRIPTION
I’ve followed the grebes in Richmond Park for several years, learning their habits and how they change through the seasons. I arrived at the ponds before sunrise, knowing mist would form, and positioned myself so the first light would rise directly in front of me. As the sun broke through, the pair began their courtship display. I wanted to convey a quiet grandeur of both scale and beauty. The alignment of light, atmosphere and behaviour makes the natural world so mesmerising.
The ethereal egret
PHOTOGRAPHER
Fred Wall
CATEGORY
16–18 years – Commended 2025
DESCRIPTION
The ethereal egret: a divine deity who radiates seraphic aura like no other. The left of the image is the egret; the right is their perfect reflection in the water. Rotating this image to be portrait rather than landscape creates this stunning effect where the reflection appears to be a third and fourth wing. The splash of water could be a crown, emphasising that sense of astronomical but beautiful power. The angelic queen of the avian afterlife.
Splash of survival
PHOTOGRAPHER
Ben Lucas
CATEGORY
16–18 years – Commended 2025
DESCRIPTION
I’d spent hours by a lake in central London on a cold January afternoon. I noticed a cormorant hunting under a bridge, so I crawled closer to get just the right angle. The soft winter sunlight backlit the scene perfectly, and in that instant, as the bird flipped their fish, light and movement came together. Most people rush past, barely giving wildlife a second glance, but I can’t tear my eyes away. I love giving people a second chance to see what they missed!