Wildlife Photographer of the Year: People’s Choice winner named | Ents & Arts News

The 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year has named its People’s Choice winner, selected from more than 60,000 entries and voted for by the public.

A young lynx tossing a rodent into the air before killing and eating it in Ciudad Real, Spain, was chosen as the winner from 24 shortlisted pictures.

A panel of judges chose the shortlist, in addition to the winning images announced in October.

Here is the winning picture and four “highly commended” photos which impressed wildlife lovers in the public vote.

Conservation efforts mean the Iberian lynx, which was on the brink of extinction in the early 2000s, has now recovered to number more than 2,000. Good news for the lynx, bad news for the local rodents.

This game lasted 20 minutes before the cat got bored and took its prey behind a bush to eat it.

A group of flamingos stands out against a stark industrial backdrop of power lines at a bird sanctuary in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

A mother polar bear and her three cubs resting in the summer heat along the Hudson Bay coast in Canada.

A silhouetted pair of young bear cubs rearing up and play-fighting in the middle of a quiet road in Jasper National Park, Canada.

A sika deer carrying the interlocked severed head of a rival male that had died after their battle on Notsuke Peninsula in Hokkaido, Japan.

The winner and four runners-up will be shown on the voting screens at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition in London until it closes on 12 July. The top image will also be on the gallery wall alongside the winning images in the main competition.