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All the winners, runners-up and shortlists for the Luminar Bug Photography Awards 2020

The Luminar Bug Photographer of the Year 2020

Mofeed Abu Shalwa

Mofeed Abu Shalwa

Mofeed, from Saudi Arabia, is the grand prize winner in this inaugural year of the Luminar Bug Photography Awards. He wowed the judging panel with his consistently high level of technical skill and creativity, and an obvious dedication to his craft. He is a professional photographer with a specialism in macro photography, and started shooting insects 10 years ago. This was partly to help him overcome a childhood phobia of insects, and also to show the beauty and tiny details of insects that a camera lens can bring to light.

'Red palm weevil'

'Crab spider'

'Ladybug inside the flower'

'Blue longhorn beetle'

'Bee Xylocopa violacea'

The Luminar Young Bug Photographer of the Year 2020

Jamie Spensley

Jamie Spensley

with 'Carder Bee'

17 year-old Jamie comes from Solihull in the UK, and is studying Creative Media at college. He has a passion for shooting macro, and won with this stunning shot of a carder bee. As he explains “because it was shot handheld, focus stacking was a nightmare. I couldn’t do it automatically, so had to mask out all of the out-of-focus areas in each of the forty-one images that I used. I was very happy with the result.”

More of Jamie’s images

See all the 2020 Winners and Shortlists

Aquatic Bugs

The ‘Aquatic bugs’ category covers those invertebrates that either live in or on water, or are dependent on water for their lifecycle. These include pond skaters, water measurers, water boatmen, water treaders, crayfish, crabs, jellyfish, shellfish, and octopi.

1st place

Galice Hoarau with 'Diamond squid'

2nd place

Galice Hoarau with 'wonderpuss'

3rd place

Neil Phillips with 'Large red damselfly nymph'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Arachnids

Arachnids include the full range of spiders and harvestmen, as well as scorpions, ticks and mites. They all have eight legs, and live in many habitat types, from the water-loving Fen Raft spider, to the sky-bound Cloud-living spider. It also includes pictures of spider webs.

1st place

Lung-Tsai Wang with 'Microspur1'

2nd place

Digby Rogers with 'UK Docklands Invader-Meeting the new neighbours'

3rd place

Raed Ammari with 'Dancing spider'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Beetles

Beetles are the largest order of insects. Ladybirds/ladybugs, stag beetles, pollen beetles, water beetles, and any member of the Coleoptera order can be entered into this category. From tiny pollen beetles to large long-horned beetles, you can distinguish a beetle by its forewings that are typically modified into hard wing cases (elytra), which cover and protect the hind wings and abdomen.

1st place

Christian Brockes with '3… 2…1…Take off!'

2nd place

Martijn Nugteren with 'A stag-beetle behind a leaf'

3rd place

Li Feng with 'look'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Flies, Bees, Wasps and Dragonflies

Bug masters of the air! Majestic dragonflies, bees, wasps, hornets, hover flies, damselflies, mayflies, lacewings and more. The insects in this category all have visible wings, not hidden behind hard cases.

1st place

Peter Orr with 'Three Mayfly on Crested Dogstail'

2nd place

Rory J Lewis with 'The eyes have it'

3rd place

Chris Ruijter with 'Purple haze'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Butterflies and Moths

The bugs in this category are members of the Lepidoptera order – butterflies, and day or night-flying moths. Most will have wings that are coloured, either for camouflage or distraction – the exception being those with clear wings. It also includes caterpillars.

1st place

Sara Jazbar with 'Swallowtail'

2nd place

Mike Chuan Kwee Lim with 'Spiky Caterpillar'

3rd place

Sara Jazbar with 'Aporia in infrared'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Snails and Slugs

Legless gastropods are the focus of this category – namely slugs or snails. They can be found on land or in the water, and are characterised by having a single long soft foot.

1st place

David Lain with 'Snail'

2nd place

Galice Hoarau with 'Pteropod'

3rd place

David Lain with 'Snail'

View this category’s shortlisted images

All the Other Bugs

This is the category for all those bugs that don’t belong in any of the other categories. Examples include ants, shield bugs, cicadas, cockroaches, grasshoppers, praying mantises, and earwigs.

1st place

Reynante Martinez with 'Tug of War'

2nd place

Bence Mate with 'Tailored'

3rd place

Stephen James with 'Eared Leafhopper 2'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Extreme Close-up

This category celebrates macro images – those that highlight the astonishing details otherwise hidden to the naked human eye.

1st place

Riyad Hamzi with 'Potter Wasp'

2nd place

Roger Mepsted with 'Little Ant'

3rd place

Mofeed Abu Shalwa with 'Bee Xylocopa violacea'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Bug Homes

This category celebrates the many places that bugs might call home. These can be created by the creatures themselves, such as a wasp’s nest, or one made by humans, such as a beehive or a bug hotel.

1st place

Lee Frost with 'Home Sweet Home'

2nd place

Heath McDonald with 'Labyrinth Spider - Agelena Labyrinthica'

3rd place

Christian Brockes with 'The literal bug home'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Mobile Phone Photography

This category celebrates images taken with your mobile/cell phone. To keep the playing field level, the use of fittings or lenses attached to the phone is not permitted, and all bugs and bug-related subjects are allowed.

1st place

Fabio Sartori with 'Duo'

2nd place

Simon Hadleigh-Sparks with 'Speed Stripes'

3rd place

Fabio Sartori with 'do you see me'

View this category’s shortlisted images

Young Bug Photographer

Shining a light on young talent in the world of invertebrate photography, and open to anyone aged 13 to 17.

1st place

Jamie Spensley with 'Carder Bee'

2nd place

Elliot Connor with 'Spiderling Silhouettes'

3rd place

Jamie Spensley with 'A small hoverfly pollinating alone'

View this category’s shortlisted images
Lee Mumford

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