Grantham schoolboy Henry, 11, impresses judges with photograph of giraffes

A striking image of the different markings on two giraffes has been named runner-up in the Under-12 category of the prestigious RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2020.

‘Species’ was taken by 11-year-old Henry Rose from Grantham, whose photo was picked from a record 11,000 entries this year.

Youngsters aged up to 18 years old had been invited to capture the animal kingdom on camera or on a mobile device for this year’s RSPCA Young Photographer Awards.

Henry said: “I am so pleased the judges liked my photo. This photograph was taken at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. I love how the picture highlights different giraffe species by their amazing markings. I also like how it makes the viewer think about what they are looking at as it may not be obvious straight away.”

This year’s awards were blind-judged online by a panel of experts in wildlife photography, including photographer and TV presenter and RSPCA vice president Chris Packham. Also on the panel were award-winning wildlife photographer and filmmaker, BBC drone pilot and new judge, Sam Rowley, wildlife photographer and former competition winner Catriona Parfitt, professional wildlife photographer and photographic guide Ellie Rothnie, nature photographer Julian Cox and the RSPCA’s multimedia manager Andrew Forsyth and also new for this year, senior photographer Emma Jacobs.

Judge and awards host Chris Packham said: “The quality of entries this year as the competition celebrates its 30th anniversary has been astounding. We felt that the lockdown ironically worked in all the young photographers' favour; they really did enter fantastic pictures.

“I’ve been judging the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards since they started. It’s exciting to have seen it move with the times, with new options regularly being introduced. This year we introduced a new category called Small World. We didn’t want our young photographers to feel limited by lockdown, so we devised this to inspire them to record what was close to home. We needn’t have worried though, as lockdown saw our entrants’ creativity and imagination soar.

“We’re also pleased that the Mobile Phone and Devices category continues, because as no separate camera is required, this has really opened up the competition to almost anyone.

“The RSPCA Young Photographer Awards is a true celebration of the animal kingdom and one I feel honoured to be involved with. Every person shortlisted should be proud of their contribution to a world that’s kinder to all animals.”

The winning images across nine categories, including three different age groups and an Instagram category, were announced during an online awards ceremony hosted by Chris today (December 17).

To see the winning entries click here.

For a full gallery of the winning images* please visit: https://young.rspca.org.uk/ypa/home