This year’s grand prize was awarded to Hungarian photographer Tibor Litauszki, for his underwater image of an alpine newt feeding on freshly laid frog eggs. Illuminated with an LED lamp, and captured using a camera in a waterproof case with a home-made wired remote release, Tibor said the photograph shows the “cycle and sensitivity of nature.”

According to The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit, this year’s competition saw a record-breaking number of submissions, with 189,000 entries from over 80,000 photographers, but Litauszki won on merit of capturing a unique and often overlooked event in nature.

“A simple stream teeming with life turned into another world — a galaxy of greens and blues shining through a dark canvas,” said contest director and judging coordinator Alex Snyder of the winning image. “The technical difficulty alone gave the image high marks, but the overall composition and aesthetic made it a winner.”

This year’s grand prize was awarded to Hungarian photographer Tibor Litauszki, for his underwater image of an alpine newt feeding on freshly laid frog eggs. Photo: TNC Photo Contest 2023

Other winning photographs depict the beauty of wildlife, such as a sunrise silhouette of a graceful hoopoe bird and the glowing skin of a corn snake under ultraviolet light.

Some images depict the peril of the natural world, like photographer Raphael Alves’ winning photograph in the Climate category, illustrating rising rivers in Anama, Brazil, in May 2021.

“Anama is a special place. It is a small city that gets completely flooded every single year. But at the moment that photo was taken, the Amazon Basin was facing its longest and highest flood in history,” said Alves. “Although people have adapted their lives to the cycle of waters, extreme events such as huge floods or droughts force people to their limits.”

This year, the competition was divided into 12 categories, up from six for the first time in the contest’s history. The Nature Conservancy hopes the images will raise awareness, evoke an emotional connection to the natural world, and help support global conservation efforts.

“Early images of Yellowstone helped convince the US Congress to establish the area as the first ever National Park,” said Snyder. “Additionally, photography has long been a tool used by scientists and researchers to document and monitor every aspect of our natural world. Photography shows us what matters.”

Here are the galleries of other photo contest winners:

Wolf Trinity. Photographed in Bhigwan, Maharashtra, India. Siddhartha Ghosh / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Living Inside the Yellow Fields. Agnieszka Wieczorek / TNC Photo Contest 2023

A Cool Drink. Second Place, Freshwater. A bull elk stops in the Oconaluftee River in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for a refreshing drink. Alan Taylor / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Planned Burn at Chase State Fishing Lake. Honorable Mention, Lands. This is the late evening on April 17, 2014, with a planned pasture burn creeping along the ridge of the hill at the end of the lake. Bruce Hogle / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Morning Attack. Second Place, Mammals. An orca attacks two seals in the morning on a beach. HJ Yang / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Dry Fish Pond. First Place, Freshwater. The holes dug by fish for spawning can be seen after a pond has dried up. Tai Sang Wai, Yuen Long, Hong Kong. Jeanny Tang / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Phantoms Adrift. First Place, Underwater Life. Pacific sea nettles (Chrysaora fuscescens) swarm in the murky waters off Monterey, California. Russell Laman / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Sound and Vision. First Place, Lands. Alessandro Carboni / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Shaking Off. Third Place, Mammals. Free yourself. The bear. Luisa Pericoli / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Lost in Snow Waves. Second Place, Plants & Fungi. A lonely conifer tree in the Dolomites highlands in wintertime, Fanes-Sennes-Braies Regional Natural Park, Italy. Vittorio Ricci / TNC Photo Contest 2023

Celebrating Vietnam - Japan Friendship Via Photography Exhibition The 50 photos displayed at the exhibition "Vietnam - Japan: Towards the Future, Reaching out to the World" represents the 50 years of diplomatic relationship ...

Vietnamese Photographer Wins First Prize In Global Contest Vietnamese photographer Thai Viet Hoan’s work capturing the gorgeous fishing scene in Phu Yen won the first prize in the photography category of the global-scale ...

Editor's Pick: 30 Tones of America by Vietnamese Teen Photographer Passionate about street photography, 16-year-old Bill Nguyen (Ho Chi Minh City) created an impressive diary called "Tones of America" after his 30-day-long summer trip to ...