FRAMINGHAM, MA – While this article is not directly about Framingham, it is a great story about an international annual photo competition called the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, (CWPA), founded by Paul Joynson-Hick, a wildlife photographer who’s lived in East Africa for the past 30 years — a story about something that benefits every living thing on Earth — including Framingham.

Back in 2015, while thumbing through some wildlife photos he began laughing to himself when the expressions on the animals faces or the situations they were in or other aspects of the image struck him as funny.

Then the idea struck: run a photo competition to spread the word about wildlife conservation.

It was that simple. No big name sponsors, no entry fees, just get as many wildlife photographers (amateur and professional) to enter their funniest animal pics to help generate publicity for the animals and environment in peril.

The competition is a non-profit effort with any revenue generated (from licensing and selling prints and other merchandise on the CWPA website) used to to sponsor wildlife and environmental conservation groups.

Funny animal photos (and videos) allow humans to relate and empathize with the everyday plight of the planet’s non-human residents.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the award winning photos from this year —

Visit the CWPA website to view all the winning photos.

Visit the CWPA website at www.comedywildlifephoto.com to view all the winning photos from this year and past years. Many of the images have been made into calendars, books and other printed items and available from Amazon and other outlets.

The 2020 Overall Winner, “Terry the Turtle flipping the bird“, a photo by Mark Fitzpatrick at Lady Elliot Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia is featured on a the cover of the 2022 CWPA calendar.

Prints, such as the 2020 Highly Commended photo titles “Smiley” by Arthur Telle Thiemenn, of a Parrot Fish is Hierro, Canary Islands is available in 5×7, 8×12 and 20×30 sizes are avalable for purchase.

We strongly encourage you to visit the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards website at: www.comedywildlifephoto.com not only view the galleries of this year’s and previous years winners, but to read through the information about the organizations related to the photo competition and to take actions yourself to help conserve Earth’s animals and environment.

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