[ NATURE & ENVIRONMENT ] A single photograph that increases the understanding and appreciation of nature and our environment. Photographers are encouraged to explore the relationship between human and nature/environment. Studio scenes that are arranged by the photographer are not eligible. Each participant is allowed to enter up to 10 images. The images must be taken in 2021.

Judges for Nature & Environment
Ikuru Kuwajima
Tanvi Mishra
Sanjit Das
Maika Elan
Oded Wagenstein

First Place

Amin Nazari

Independent
Iran
Jahad Khanfarian, 55, from Shavardi village, his grove has been destroyed due to severe water shortage and drought.

Finalist

Jianxing Zhu

Xijiang Daily
China
Soil erosion forms an unforgiving foot of nature trampling on a small village at a newly developed industrial park in Gaoyao District, Zhaoqing city, Guangdong Province, On November 21, 2021. The contradiction between economic development and environmental protection has become a global problem.

Finalist

Agoes Rudianto

Independent
Indonesia
Before being released into its natural habitat, a monkey is in a transit cage in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The monkey was evacuated from its owner, who was exploited as a dancing monkey to beg on the streets. Baby monkeys are hunted from the forest by killing their mother. Their canines were cut off before being cruelly trained in various skills to attract people.

Award of Excellence

Erdem Sahin

EPA
Turkey
An aerial photo made with a drone shows, children swimming in the Marmara sea covered by sea snot in Darica district of Kocaeli, Turkey, 11 June 2021. Because of global heating, a blanket of mucus-like substance in the Marmara Sea increasing day by day threatens the fishing industry and the environment. According to the media reports, sea snot, which is formed as a result of the proliferation of microalgae called phytoplankton in the sea, has descended 30 meters from the surface in some regions on the Marmara Sea. The biggest reason for this is that the water temperature in the Marmara Sea is 2.5 degrees above the average of the last 40 years.

Award of Excellence

Sebnem Coskun

Anadolu Agency
Turkey
The caretta caretta sea turtle named Gökçeada, which was hit by a boat in Çanakkale and had fractures and slits in its skull, is sent to the Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (Dekamer)in Dalyan by the people who find it. Every injured sea turtle that comes to the center has a name. The turtles are named after the citizens who saved them. The name of this injured turtle was given by the people who found it. One day, Gökçeada, who was being treated for the head injury, died in the tank where it was treated.

Award of Excellence

Ezra Acayan

New York Times
Philippines
Children wash their hands next to overturned vehicles after severe flooding caused by Super Typhoon Rai in Loboc, Bohol province, the Philippines, Dec. 22, 2021. “The trees snapped like matchsticks.” Ed Boysillo, 54, a municipal worker in Ubay, in the central Philippine province of Bohol, was describing the fearsome power of Super Typhoon Rai. The storm made its first landfall on Dec. 16, bringing torrential rains and packing winds up to 168 miles per hour, comparable to a Category 5 hurricane. It blew away buildings, swelled rivers to overflow and forced more than seven million people to flee their homes. It cut off power, water and communications. It damaged critical infrastructure. The storm killed at least 397 people, injured 1,147 others and left 83 missing, official figures show.