Competition empowers nature protection through lenses

The China Wildlife Image and Video Competition launched Thursday on the International Day for Biodiversity in Foshan, Guangdong province, marking its second five-year chapter with bold upgrades.

The prestigious nature photography contest now features 14 categories with 27 awards, including the new "Jane Goodall Youth Award" and "New Discoveries Prize", empowering more creators to "protect nature through lenses". As China's ecological civilization showcase, Foshan, part of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, provides the perfect backdrop, according to the competition's organizers.

The event, initiated by China, is the world's first competition of its kind and engages participants from over 81 countries and regions. Showcased by the United Nations, it shares China's story of protecting nature through imagery, with related content achieving over 1 billion online impressions.

The competition has amassed more than 60,000 minutes of natural footage and 157,125 submitted works.

In support of the event, Beyond Horizon, an exhibition of outstanding works from the China Wildlife Image and Video Competition, will be held from May 28 to Aug 25 in Foshan's Nanhai district.

This exhibition features a curated selection of more than 100 iconic images from the competition's past editions. A special section highlights the Greater Bay Area, showcasing diverse life-forms playing out nature's eternal themes — survival, reproduction, challenge, adaptation, cooperation, and competition.