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Mark Ian Cook won Mangrove Photographer of the Year 2025 for Birds’ Eye View of the Hunt, an aerial photograph of Roseate Spoonbills above a lemon shark hunting mullet in Florida Bay, as described by the competition’s organizers. The 11th Mangrove Photography Awards, an initiative of Mangrove Action Project, drew a record 3,303 entries from 78 nations, according to the awards announcement.
What are the Mangrove Photography Awards?
The Mangrove Photography Awards are a visual storytelling competition organized by Mangrove Action Project. The 2025 edition was its 11th. Its winning images, captions and conservation framing are the organizers’ presentation of the entries, not an independent ecological assessment.
The awards reported 3,303 entries from 78 nations in 2025, calling the total a record for the competition. Mangrove Action Project’s announcement describes the entrants as coming from 78 countries. See the 2025 winners gallery and read Mangrove Action Project’s announcement.
Who won Mangrove Photographer of the Year 2025?
Mark Ian Cook: Birds’ Eye View of the Hunt
Cook received the overall title for an aerial view of Roseate Spoonbills and a lemon shark hunting mullet in Florida Bay. The image brings birds, fish and a shark into one mangrove-lined waterscape.
The awards page frames the scene as a reminder that wildlife depends on ecosystem conditions. It says climate-change-induced sea-level rise is affecting lower water depths and fish availability in the area. That is the competition’s explanation of the image, rather than a quantified assessment presented here.
Judge Sirachai “Shin” Arunrugstichai, whom the organizers identify as a Thai photojournalist and marine biologist, said: “I love the convergence of all the elements in that exact moment. It clearly shows the diversity of life that lives and dies, both aerial and aquatic in the same space and time, that all depends on the mangrove ecosystem”.
What do the winning photographs show?
The results move between wildlife, landscapes and the lives and livelihoods connected to mangroves. These selected examples reflect the captions and locations given by the organizers:
- People and livelihoods: Freddie Claire’s Bhoben Biseash and his Otters, in the People, Livelihoods category, depicts a traditional otter-fishing practice in Bangladesh.
- Changing landscapes: Ahmed Badwan’s Mangroves and Modernity, in Landscape, From the Air, shows urban mangroves in the UAE.
- Wildlife after dark: Christian Møldrup Legaard’s Night in the mangrove, in Wildlife, Other Species, is a long exposure of fireflies in the Philippines.
- Night sky and forest: Gwi Bin Lim’s Mangrove Under the Milky Way, in Landscape, On the Ground, depicts mangroves in Indonesia.
The gallery also highlights honey gathering in the Sundarbans and wildlife in the Everglades. These captions offer glimpses of varied encounters with mangroves; they should be read as descriptions of individual photographs, not as a complete account of any community or ecosystem.
What changed in the 2025 awards?
The 2025 competition expanded its categories and regional reach. The organizers introduced new subcategories in Wildlife, Landscape and People, and added a Young Mangrove Photographer of the Year title for photographers aged 23 or younger. The Emirates Award and Arabian Gulf Award also launched in partnership with Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi, bringing dedicated recognition to the UAE and wider Gulf region.
Those additions sit alongside the competition’s broader categories, including Wildlife, Landscape and People/Livelihoods. The overall Mangrove Photographer of the Year title is distinct from category awards and the newer regional awards.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsWhere can you see the full 2025 results?
The official winners gallery contains the competition’s photographs, category results and captions. Mangrove Action Project’s July 2025 announcement provides its overview of the edition and the record entry total.
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