The 2026 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards shortlist includes more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries—and three standouts are Diego Perez’s “Sexy mantis,” Paolo Torre’s “Elvis” caiman and Scott Suriano’s “Morning calisthenics” Alaskan brown bear. Their apparent poses are playful human readings of the photographs, not evidence that the animals deliberately performed for a camera.
Three finalists behind the headline
“Sexy mantis” by Diego Perez
Peruvian photographer Diego Perez photographed a praying mantis from a low position after deciding that a full-insect framing felt too familiar. The resulting image earned the playful title “Sexy mantis”; “sexy” is the human joke in the title, not a claim about the insect’s intention.
“Elvis” by Paolo Torre
Italian photographer Paolo Torre captured a caiman with floating vegetation left on its head. The accidental-looking adornment gives the image its “Elvis” comparison.
“Morning calisthenics” by Scott Suriano
Scott Suriano’s Alaskan brown bear appears, to human viewers, to be showing off during a morning calisthenics routine. That is a comic interpretation of the photograph rather than a scientific account of the bear’s behavior.
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More images on the 2026 shortlist
Other finalists named in coverage include Cliff Fawcett’s “If I Can’t See You,” featuring an elephant in Addo National Park, South Africa, and Kyo Chen’s “A Very Pressured Spadefish,” photographed in the Philippines.
How large is the shortlist?
The organizers’ announcement, reproduced by ePHOTOzine, lists 40 individual finalists, three under-16 finalists, four portfolio finalists and nine video finalists. Digital Camera World reported that the competition received more than 10,000 entries from 112 countries, a record for the awards. The counts describe the 2026 competition; Nikon’s 2025 awards page instead reports 10,000 entries from 109 countries and 44 entries shortlisted, including video.
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When are the winners announced?
The overall, category and highly commended results are scheduled to be announced at an awards night in London on Tuesday, 8 December 2026, according to Digital Camera World. The named prizes include Nikon Z6III, Nikon Z50II and Nikon ZR cameras, ThinkTANK photography rucksacks and a safari with Alex Walker’s Serian.
The reproduced announcement also gives an internally inconsistent date range—“19th-13th December”—for a one-week exhibition at Gallery@Oxo. The dates should not be treated as confirmed until the organizers clarify them.
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What the awards support
Nikon says the competition was founded in 2015 by Paul Joynson-Hicks MBE and Tom Sullam, and that Nikon joined as a partner in 2024. Nikon also says 10% of competition profits go to the Whitley Fund for Nature to support its Next Gen initiative. Separately, the 2026 announcement reproduced by ePHOTOzine says the awards are working with Born Free Foundation; that is a distinct partnership claim.
Co-founder Tom Sullam described the purpose of the humor this way: “We use humour to get people to feel empathy towards wildlife, and it’s that empathy that creates behavioural change for the better.”
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What the funny poses do—and do not—show
Titles such as “Sexy mantis” and “Morning calisthenics” invite viewers to anthropomorphize a moment. They make the shortlist entertaining, but they should not be mistaken for evidence that an animal intended to pose or understood a camera. The images’ humor comes from how people interpret what is captured.
For context on the competition’s documented ethical standards, Nikon’s 2025 entry guide required submissions to be the entrant’s own copyrighted work, prohibited disturbing, harassing, traumatizing, hurting or injuring an animal, and barred digital manipulation of the image’s integrity, including AI editing. Those are 2025 rules; they should not be assumed to state the current 2026 entry terms.
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