Keen photographers and animal enthusiasts alike will probably be firm followers of the London Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards. The annual competition showcases breathtaking and heartbreaking images of the natural world by photographers from across the planet, and 2020 has proven – perhaps unsurprisingly – to be one of the most poignant yet.
You could throw a dart just about anywhere on the timeline of 2020 and land on bad news, but some of the most dramatic images emerged from the devastating wildfires in Australia, which saw in what would be a harrowing new year. It seems those who voted in the 2020 People’s Choice Award weren’t ones to shy away from tricky subjects, as they hailed children’s television personality and wildlife photographer Robert Irwin (yes, those Irwins) as the winner for his photo of the crisis.