Australian wildlife photographers, Justin Gilligan, Jannico Kelk and Matthew Smith have been named among the award recipients in the 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year international competition.

Justin Gilligan was proclaimed winner of the Oceans – The Bigger Picture category for this image (shown above) of a mosaic created from the 403 pieces of plastic found inside the digestive tract of a dead flesh-footed shearwater. A member of the International League of Conservation Photographers, his recent photojournalism work focuses on ecosystem-based conservation stories in Australia and he’s contributed to more than 23 feature articles for Australian Geographic magazine. This image was one in a series produced for Adrift Lab, which brings together biologists from around the world to study the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems. Justin has been documenting their work for several years, often joining them on beach walks at dawn to collect dead chicks. Studies found that three-quarters of adult flesh-footed shearwaters breeding on Lord Howe Island contained plastic. For fledglings, the figure was 100%. The more plastic a bird contains, the worse its body condition. Plastic is indigestible and takes up space that could be filled with something more nutritious. Chicks are now fledging at lower body weights than they were in 2010. The image was recorded on Lord Howe Island with a Nikon D850 camera using a 24-70mm f/2.8 lens and Profoto B10 + A1 flash.

Matthew Smith took out the Underwater category with an image (shown above) of an inquisitive Leopard Seal beneath the Antarctic ice. It was taken late in the day in Paradise Harbour on the Antarctic Peninsula with a specially modified camera. To get this split image, Matthew used a specially made dome port he designed for the front of his underwater housing. This put more distance between the lens and the water, making the waterline thinner and less obtrusive. It was his first encounter with a leopard seal. Leopard seals are widespread and abundant. However, krill and penguins – their main food sources – are in decline. This is because of overfishing, retreating sea ice and warming waters. The image was captured with a Nikon Z7 II camera using a 14-30mm f/4 lens, a graduated ND filter and an Aquatica AZ6/7 housing plus Sea & Sea YS-D3 MKII strobes.

Jannico Kelk has received a Highly Commended award for this image (shown above), which was captured with a camera trap and shows a greater bilby (local Aboriginal name ‘ninu’), with the wire grass and shrubs behind it providing a frame against the darkness. The image was recorded inside a 123-square-kilometre fenced conservation reserve in Roxby Downs, South Australia run by Arid Recovery, where predators have been removed and the bilby is thriving. Before setting up his camera trap, Jannico spent each morning walking the sand dunes, searching for footprints that this rabbit-sized marsupial may have left the night before. The ninu was brought to near extinction through predation by foxes and cats introduced during the European colonisation. Jannico is a wildlife photographer, videographer, ecologist and a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. He used a Canon EOS 60D camera with a 24mm f/2.8 lens plus three Nikon SB-28 Speedlight flashes and a Camtraptions PIR motion sensor.

An exhibition of the 100 best images from this year’s competition will be on display at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney between June and November 2025.