NEED TO KNOW
Kathleen Borshanian has won the National Wildlife Federation’s 2025 National Wildlife Photo Contest
The Utah-based photographer’s stunning shot of a female blue Arctic fox was captured on Alaska’s St. George Island
As well as scoring the contest’s top prize, Borshanian also won $5,000
The winner of the National Wildlife Federation’s 2025 National Wildlife Photo Contest looks like something straight out of a movie.
The photo, which was captured by Kathleen Borshanian, shows a female blue Arctic fox perched on a cliff on Alaska’s St. George Island.
“On the high bluffs of St. George Island, there is a 1,000-foot sea cliff where numerous fox trails cut a path precariously close to the edge,” Borshanian said in a press release announcing the winner of the annual wildlife photography contest.
The photographer, who is from Salt Lake City, hid behind a tussock and used a telephoto lens to capture the fox, who was about 75 feet away with her kits sleeping nearby.
Kathleen Borshanian/2025 National Wildlife
Kathleen Borshanian’s winning photo taken on St. George Island in Alaska
As well as scoring the contest’s top prize, Borshanian also won $5,000, according to USA Today.
The annual contest is now in its 54th year. The 2025 event received nearly 30,000 submissions from more than 3,200 photographers across the U.S. and around the world, according to a National Wildlife Federation release.
“The stunning images highlight the diversity and majesty of wildlife, plants, and landscapes from across the globe,” National Wildlife magazine said.
“In reviewing this year’s photo contest entries, our judges noted a couple of unmistakable themes. First, there are astonishing glimpses of nature’s sheer strength, from an onrush of lava in Iceland to a shimmering burn set to contain a wildfire in Pennsylvania,” Jennifer Wehunt, editorial director of National Wildlife magazine, wrote of the photos.
“And then there are surprises that defy the everyday: a night bus of nautical hitchhikers, a fox straight out of a fairy tale. That ability to amaze—that’s also the power of nature,” Wehunt added.
Deena Sveinsson2025 National Wildlife
Deena Sveinsson’s photo of three bull moose in Wyoming
Along with the grand prize, first and second place in eight categories — including mammals, birds, baby animals and young nature photographers — were also announced.
Taking top spot in the mammals category was Deena Sveinsson’s shot of three bull moose.
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Leo Dale/2025 National Wildlife
Leo Dale’s shot of a solo coyote in California
Taken in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, the Colorado resident says the photos “looks like a movie poster.”
Sveinsson went to great measures to capture the image, waiting hours for the moose to move before “squatting as low as I could get in the cold, muddy water.”
“My socks, pants, and coat got completely soaked with that smelly mud,” she added.
In the young nature photographers category, Leo Dale captured a breathtaking shot of a solo coyote at Point Reyes National Seashore in California.
“I’m always on the lookout around dusk,” said Dale, who is from Sonoma and was 17 when he took the photo in fall 2024. He spotted the animal “as a magnificent, clouded sunset was materializing.”
Ajay Kumar Singh/2025 National Wildlife
Ajay Kumar Singh captured a flamboyance of flamingos in Bahrain
Meanwhile, further afield, the second spot in the birds was secured by Ajay Kumar Singh at Eker Creek in Bahrain.
Singh’s shot of a flamboyance of flamingos was captured in “early morning, when it was dark, and the building and streetlights were still on.”
Remuna Beca/2025 National Wildlife
Remuna Beca scored second place with this photo of a nurse shark in The Bahamas
Another second-place winner was Remuna Beca’s underwater shot of a nurse shark in The Bahamas. “I captured our moment of eye contact,” Beca, of Pompano Beach, Fla., said of the unique photo.
Photographers can enter next year’s contest starting on Jan. 14, 2026, per the release.
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