The adorable otter above was snapped by Greg Lecoeur, and won first prize in the ‘Under Exposed’ category as part of the Outdoor Photographer of the Year competition 2018.

The Telegraph notes that the competition received more than 20 000 entries from all over the world from both professional and amateur photographers.

The following photos, which either won prizes or received commendations, are our top picks.

(Side note – have you seen the video announcing Planet Earth III? Do it.)

The photo below of an Arctic fox received a commendation, and was taken by Roie Galitz from Israel:

A Geleda Monkey carrying its baby in Simien National Park was captured by Riccardo Marchegiani, and took home the prize for ‘Young Photographer of the Year’:

A cephea jellyfish captured here in South Africa by Pier Mane won runner-up:

This solitary bonnet mushroom captured by Jay Birmingham was also a runner-up:

The mountain apollo butterfly captured below by Stefan Gerrits won in the ‘Small World’ category:

Peter Racz’s photo of an ice cave in Russia was also a runner up:

Tom Putt took home a win with his image of sand dunes in the Namib Desert:

The following snap was the overall winner. It was taken by Robert Birkby, and shows sheep taking shelter between a snowdrift and a wall in Yorkshire:

This pic of a surfer crashing under a wave by Greg Lecoeur took home a win in the ‘Live the Adventure’ category:

Marcio Esteves received a commendation for his shot of the ESO Paranal astronomical observatory in Chile:

Roie Galitz was a runner-up with his shot of a bear among salmon in Russia:

Alsion Perkins shared the spot of runner-up with her picture, showing diver Cameron Russo swimming through an underwater cave system:

Joining her as runner-up is Alex Palmer and his snap of two climbers on the famous El Capitan rock in Yosemite:

I think they’re using ropes, so we’re giving this round to Alex Honnold.

Daniel Laan was also a runner-up with his pic of Stjerntinden in Norway:

And finally, the following pic of 64-year-old SyaRam hanging from beams above a wrestling pit, taken by Matt Parry, scored a win in the ‘Spirit of Travel’ category:

Namaste, man.

[source:telegraph]