Mr Moore’s photograph of a female western grey kangaroo competed with 5,300 entries for the top prize, and also won in the Creatures of the Land category.
The winning shot was taken in the outer suburbs of Perth, Australia, after Mr Moore had an unsuccessful morning photographing waterfowl at a nearby lake. He decided to visit an area of bushland popular with kangaroos, and discovered several kangaroos and joeys in the field.
Among the snapshots was the winning photograph, which pictures a kangaroo in a yellow field, in a pose like it is playing the air guitar. The image was popular with the judges, for its ‘feel-good’ appearance.
Jason Moore said: “The shoot turned out to be a great session, and I am quite fond of several images that I captured. Not many people know that kangaroos are normally fairly docile and even a bit boring most of the time, if I’m honest.
“However, when I saw this roo striking the air guitar pose, it immediately brought a smile to my face, and I knew that I had captured something really special.”
There were six category winners in total, including young photographer Jacek Stankiewicz’s image called ‘Dispute’.
The image, which depicts two greenfinches appear to have an argument, won Mr Stankiewicz the Junior Award. In a competition first he was also awarded the Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award, after winning a public vote.
This is the first time a junior entry has won this award, marking a milestone for the competition.
Tom Sullam, competition co-founder, said: “This year’s People’s Choice Award winner is like the cherry on the cake.
“To have a junior entrant win this major prize is extremely rewarding for us. We want more juniors to enter, we want to take our conservation message and our love of photography to the younger generation and this result proves that young photographers have as much chance of winning as anybody else.”
The winner in the Creatures of the Air category was Vittorio Ricci, whose photograph titled ‘Unexpected Plunge’ of a striated heron ironically shows the bird falling out of the sky and into the water.
Meanwhile Otter Kwek’s image of an ‘Otter Ballerina’, taken in Singapore, earned him first place in the Under Water category.
For full details of this year’s winners, and how to enter next year, please visit The Comedy Wildlife Awards website.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
