WildArt 2021 Competition Winners

2021 was an amazing year for the competition. In its very first year we received over 10,500 images from nearly 700 photographers representing 47 countries around the globe, cementing it as a major international wildlife photography competition from day one. The standard of photography was simply breath-taking, a fact which is emphasised by the images displayed below. Our sincere thanks go to everyone who entered the competition and made it such a success, and huge congratulations go to our very first WildArt Photographer of the Year winner Csaba Tökölyi from Hungary and his amazing image of Whale Sharks taken in the Philippines. Congratulations also go to Csaba Daróczi, also from Hungary, who wins our Best Portfolio Award. Our WildArt Young Photographer of the Year is D’Artagnan Sprengel from New Zealand with his amazing image of glowworms in the roof of a cave. Scroll down the page and feast your eyes on all our 2021 winners. Watch our awards presentation below, or click here to go directly to it on our YouTube channel.

To view the monthly winners galleries and Top 100 images from the 2021 competition, click the links below:

WildArt Photographer of the Year 2021 Winner, ‘Whale Sharks and Tourists’ Csaba Tökölyi, Hungary.

Spending part of my childhood in Indonesia in the 1980s left its mark on me. I was lucky to witness nature in a form that is now very hard to find, in a time before mainstream tourism and mass deforestation. Since these early days, travelling became my passion. After taking a dive course in 2007, I started taking pictures underwater and that marked the beginning of taking part in photo competitions. Colour is a striking element of underwater photography, and it was why I started diving: things come ablaze when lit with a torch or strobe. However, when the element of colour is removed, the scene breaks down to texture, light, and the character of the animals photographed. It is this approach that I very much enjoy nowadays. I use Nikon cameras (Z7, D7200) and Nikon primes with a Subal ND7200 housing and INON strobes. Csaba Tökölyi.

WildArt Photographer of the Year 2021 winner **Csaba Tökölyi**

WildArt Photographer of the Year Best Portfolio 2021 Winner

Csaba Daróczi, Hungary.

I was born in 1969, and I live in a small town in Hungary with my family where I teach geography and physical education in an elementary school. I’ve been interested in nature photography for about 30 years. However, with my work and family commitments, I do not have much time to devote to nature and tend to concentrate on local subjects during the weekends. I don’t have a favourite subject or species, preferring to take pictures of everything I experience that provides an opportunity for an interesting and creative photograph. I enjoy taking part in photographic contests and I have won the title of Nature Photographer of the Year five times in Hungary, but I have also won many awards in other international competitions. I am extremely happy and proud that I have been awarded with the Best Portfolio Prize in the inaugural WildArt Photographer of the Year. Csaba Daróczi.

WildArt Young Photographer of the Year 2021 Winner

D’Artagnan Sprengel, New Zealand.

My name is D’Artagnan Sprengel and I am from Aotearoa, New Zealand. I have been taking photos since I was 10. For my 11th birthday I got my first DSLR (a Nikon D3400) and from there, photography became my passion. I mostly take photos of birds and insects as we have very few land mammals down here, but I also love doing astro-landscape photography. D’Artagnan Sprengel.

Our thanks go to Swarovski Optik for sponsoring this award.