Hungarian scientist and photographer Imre Potyó won the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 grand prize with a macro image of pin mold growing on bat guano. Announced on October 23, 2026, the German Society for Nature Photography competition drew more than 26,000 submissions from 46 countries.
Potyó Wins Grand Prize For Bat Cave Macro Photo
For 13 years, Imre Potyó has traveled into restricted-access mine tunnels in Hungary’s Börzsöny Mountains to observe hibernating lesser horseshoe bats. These bats occasionally wake during winter to hunt flying insects entering the dark subterranean spaces.
That routine activity creates an unusual habitat. As the bats leave behind droppings that accumulate into dark layers on the tunnel floor, a whitish coating of pin mold thrives in the damp environment.
Potyó used a macro lens to capture that microscopic growth in the foreground. He employed a long exposure with a focus shift while dozens of hibernating bats rested safely in the soft background illumination of a flashlight.
A key characteristic of the lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros) is that, during hibernating it occasionally wakes and leaves its roost to hunt flying insects. In doing so, the bat leaves behind droppings that gradually accumulate into a continuous dark layer.
Imre Potyó, Overall Winner, European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026
Organized by the German Society for Nature Photography, an international jury of five evaluated the entries. They worked first remotely before completing three days of on-site judging. Tom Gilks of the competition jury noted that the winning frame reveals connections that remain hidden from daily human awareness.
This image speaks to a larger truth about the natural world: much of life exists beyond our immediate awareness, in places we seldom visit and among organisms we rarely notice.
Tom Gilks, Competition Jury Member
Wieczorek Wins Rewilding Prize For Urban Beaver Photo
Polish photographer Jan Wieczorek earned the Rewilding Europe Award 2026 for his nighttime photograph titled Urban Beavers, capturing semi-aquatic rodents living along a river in Olsztyn, Poland.
By framing the housing development alongside the wetland created by the beavers, I wanted to show that it is possible for humans and wildlife to share space.
Jan Wieczorek, Rewilding Europe Award Winner
Marla Schwarze of Dortmund secured first place in the under-14 category with an image titled Winter Gold.
Szymon Bartołd of Poland claimed victory in the 15 to 17 age group with a photograph named Swan Lake.
Gjerde Receives Fritz Pölking Junior Prize
The Fritz Pölking Junior Prize was awarded to young Norwegian photographer Tobias Gjerde for his project titled The Magic of the Nordic Wilderness.
Exhibition Opens In December Near Bremen
The winning photographs were formally honored on October 23, 2026. The collection will then enter a three-year touring exhibition opening at the Deutsches Pferdemuseum in Verden near Bremen in early December 2026.