Lancashire teenager wins wildlife photography award for dung beetle image

Summarised from LancsLive's report · Updated 15 Oct, 17:02 · Archive

A Year 11 pupil from Stonyhurst College in Lancashire has won the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 competition in the 11–14 Years category.

Oscar, a Year 11 pupil from Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, has been named a winner in the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 competition, taking the top prize in the 11–14 Years category with his photograph, Labour of Love. The image was captured during a family game drive in Zimbabwe and features a determined dung beetle attempting to manoeuvre a ball of dung up a sandy slope, followed closely by a gathering of flies. Oscar experimented with different angles to capture the beetle's remarkable determination in what the competition described as an often-overlooked moment in nature.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2026 competition, now in its 62nd year, attracted over 65,000 entries from photographers from 121 countries around the world. Oscar was recognised as one of just 19 category winners. Speaking to the BBC about his photograph, he said: 'I hope that when people look at the photograph, they can see too, and maybe appreciate how much can be happening in a small moment in the natural world.'

Read the report

• Teenage boy from Lancashire wins global wildlife competition with photo of determined dung beetleOscar's photo was taken during a family game drive in ZimbabweLancsLive · 15 Oct, 16:22

In this story: Oscar · Stonyhurst College · Lancashire · Natural History Museum · Zimbabwe

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