Top DIVE Magazine contributor Jenny Stock has won the Fish and Other Aquatic Species Category in the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Jenny’s photo stood out among 10,000 entries from 109 countries – the highest in the Award’s 11-year history – 44 of which were shortlisted for the judging panel.
Jenny’s photo, ‘Smiley’, of a grinning fangblenny was taken on a dive in Anilao, Philippines, while she was staying at Aiyanar Beach and Dive Resort.
The competition’s overall winner was UK amateur wildlife photographer Mark Meth-Cohn, for his photograph ‘High Five’, a shot of a young male gorilla displaying his high-kicking abilities, which also claimed first place in the Mammals Category.
Other Category Winners included Grayson Bell from the USA, who won the Nikon Junior Photographer Award and the Reptile, Amphibian and Insect Category with his image ‘Baptism of an unwilling convert’, a striking close-up of two frogs wrestling in the water.
Paula Rustemeier from Germany won the Nikon Young Category with her playful foxes called ‘Hit the dance floor’; and Tatjana Epp, also from Germany, won the Nikon Video Category with a brilliant clip of a surfing heron.
Warren Price won the ThinkTANK Bird Award for his perfectly timed image, ‘Headlock’; and Maggie Hoffman won the Portfolio Category with her collection of four images aptly titled ‘Digging for Gold’ featuring an industrious chimpanzee picking his nose.
The award evening was held in the Oxo Tower Gallery in London, with prizes presented by the BBC’s Kate Humble, The One Show’s Hannah Stitfall, Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Jamie Smart, and the Born Free Foundation’s Will Travers.
The photographic exhibition will continue in the Natuur Museum in Brabant in the Netherlands until the 3rd of May 2026. Voting is also open for the STERNA People’s Choice Award, in which members of the public can choose their favourite images from the finalists of 2025.
‘It is fantastic to be placed in this competition,’ said Jenny. ‘It a celebration of the joyous and funny moments we capture whilst we examine the lives of wild animals from behind a lens.
‘Whenever I’m on location and snap an image that makes me chuckle, I immediately think of this competition. I hope all the images put a smile on the audience’s faces. My image, Smiley, was taken on a dive in the Philippines with my lovely guide Regie Casia.
‘I knew this fangblenny was somewhere in the area, having seen it earlier in the week. I tried my best to signal a ‘smile’ sign to Regie, however, underwater and with one hand gripping a camera, Regie thought I was signalling ‘I’m out of air’!
‘Regie was poised to spring into action and save my life, but soon understood my request and took me straight to this joyful little fish. I took the photo and it made it to the Comedy Wildlife Awards! Big smiles all round!’
The Comedy Wildlife Awards was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam, and has grown into a globally renowned competition with conservation at its forefront.
The competition is free for photographers to enter, but 10 per cent of all profits raised through its promotion are donated to the Whitley Fund for Nature.
You can vote for Jenny’s winning image to be crowned winner of the Sterna People’s Choice Award until 1 March 2026.
