A photo of a squirrel trapped in a tree has been named the overall winner of this year’s Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. The winning image, titled “Stuck Squirrel” by Milko Marchetti, was selected from over 9,000 submissions, marking the largest number of entries in the competition’s 10-year history. Other category winners included a frog trapped in a bubble and a bream chasing a bald eagle.
The judging panel narrowed down the entries to a list of 45 finalists, from which they selected the overall winner and nine category winners. Milko Marchetti’s winning photograph captures a red squirrel as it awkwardly enters its hide in a tree trunk, with its legs positioned at right angles to the trunk.
Marchetti explained that he has taken many photos of squirrels in various situations throughout Italy, but this one stood out for its humor and unusual composition. “It’s that exact moment when the squirrel is detaching its back legs from the trunk to enter its hide,” he said. He added that whenever he shows the image at nature seminars, it always gets a great laugh from the audience, which encouraged him to enter the competition.
Stefan Maier, senior general manager of marketing at Nikon Europe, expressed his excitement about announcing Marchetti as the winner. He remarked that the image “perfectly captures the playful and unpredictable moments that make nature so captivating.”
Among the nine category winners were Kingston Tam, who received the Nikon Young Photographer Award for a close-up shot of a smiling frog, and 10-year-old Flynn Thaitanunde-Lobb, who became the youngest-ever category winner with four images of a rock star squirrel, which won first place in the Portfolio category.
The Video category was won by Kevin Lohman for his footage of a red fox having fun with zoomies on a frosty morning.
Last year’s winner was Jason Moore, who captured a female western gray kangaroo striking an air guitar pose in a wildflower field near Perth, Australia.