The world-renowned Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, now in its sixty-first year, will open at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum on Sunday 28 June. On loan from the Natural History Museum in London, the exhibition features exceptional nature photography from across the globe.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind. Launching in 1965, today the competition receives more than 60,000 entries from 113 countries and territories worldwide. The exhibition showcases 100 images selected by an international jury, highlighting artistic composition, technical innovation and powerful storytelling about the natural world.
The exhibition shines a light on powerful and fascinating images that capture hidden animal behaviour, spectacular species, and the breathtaking diversity of the natural world. Using photography’s unique emotive power, the images share stories from around the world and encourage audiences to reflect on and advocate for the planet.
Ahead of its arrival in Auckland, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People’s Choice Award 2026 was announced last month. Austrian photographer Josef Stefan has been named the People’s Choice winner for his image Flying Rodent, capturing a playful Iberian lynx in Spain – following a record-breaking 85,917 public votes worldwide.
The exhibition features the top award-winning images announced late last year, including Wildlife Photographer of the Year winner Wim van den Heever for his powerful image Ghost Town Visitor, a haunting yet mesmerising image of a rare brown hyena visiting the skeletal remains of a long-abandoned diamond mining town in Kolmanskop, Namibia.
Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was awarded to Andrea Dominizi, aged 17, whose image After the Destruction tells a poignant tale of habitat loss. Framed against abandoned machinery, the image spotlights a longhorn beetle in the Lepini Mountains of central Italy, an area once logged for old beech trees.
Auckland Museum Director of Audience Engagement Victoria Travers says, “It’s a privilege to bring Wildlife Photographer of the Year back to Auckland and share some of the most compelling photos taken of our natural world today. It’s an opportunity to see both the beauty of our planet and the challenges it faces.”
Dr Doug Gurr, Director of the Natural History Museum, says, “Now in its sixty-first year, we are thrilled to continue Wildlife Photographer of the Year as a powerful platform for visual storytelling, showing the diversity, beauty and complexity of the natural world and humanity’s relationship to it. With the inclusion of our Biodiversity Intactness Index, this year’s exhibition will be our best combination of great artistry and groundbreaking science yet, helping visitors to become inspired to be advocates for our planet.”
The exhibition at Auckland Museum is a chance to view these stunning photographs, beautifully illuminated, up close and in person from Sunday 28 June to Sunday 23 August 2026.
Entry is included with Museum admission, which is free for Aucklanders. Museum Members can see the exhibition first at their Members’ Preview on Saturday 27 June.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum, London, and supported by local exhibition partner Lindblad Expeditions.