This unusual nature photograph doesn’t even show the animal it represents – but it won an award. Angel Fitor explains a photograph two months in the making
A winning image from the Environmental Photography Awards.
Photography is a language that requires no words – but for photographer Angel Fitor, the camera is a tool to translate the language of nature. The photographer took the top honors at the 2025 Environmental Photography Awards for an underwater image of burrowing worms flushing out their burrows, creating what looks like a miniature sand “volcano.”
The Environmental Photography Awards, hosted by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, awarded Fitor the Grand Prize in the contest for the image, along with a category award winner and two shortlisted images.
“We environmental photographers have a simple yet colossal task: to translate the language of nature,” he said. “The natural world is of course an endless source of beauty and fascination, but the mission of visual story telling is going further in order to reveal the hidden threads that weave the complex and fragile relationships that bind our own existence to the planet.”
The burrowing worms cleaning out their burrows in the photograph play a pivotal role in the Mediterranean marine ecosystem, the photographer said. The oxygen and nutrients that the worm’s burrows help create an ecosystem under the substrate, promoting biodiversity on the seafloor.
While the worms’ impact on the ecosystem is massive, predicting when the worms would blast the sand out of the burrows was a challenge. Fitor spent two months on the project, including twenty dives of five hours each.
Fitor’s image of baby loggerhead sea turtles at a recovery center in Spain also won the Change Makers: Reasons for Hope category. The image shows a baby turtle, rescued as an egg from a crowded tourist beach, going after its first-ever jellyfish.
Along with the Change Makers category, this year’s contest also awarded prizes for Polar Wonders, Into the Forest, Ocean Worlds, and Humanity vs. Nature.
'Jellyfish and Iceberg' by Galice Horau. Winner of the Polar Wonders category. A lion’s mane jellyfish swims past an iceberg in Greenland, 2019 (Image credit: Galice Hoarau / Environmental Photography Awards)'Ephemeral' by Michaël Arzur. Runner-up in the Polar Wonders category. An iceberg drifting on the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, Iceland, 2024 (Image credit: Michaël Arzur / Environmental Photography Awards)'Female Fight' by Miquel Angel Artús Illana. Runner-up in the Polar Wonders category. A fight between two female musk oxen, Norway, 2021 (Image credit: Miquel Angel Artús Illana / Environmental Photography Awards)Clash of Kings' by Iacopo Nerozzi. Winner of the 'Into the Forest' category. Combat between two male stag beetles, Italy, 2022 (Image credit: Iacopo Nerozzi / Environmental Photography Awards)Coho Salmon in a Log Structure' by David Herasimtschuk. Runner-up in the 'Into the Forest' category. Coho Salmon and fry, USA, 2023 (Image credit: David Herasimtschuk / Environmental Photography Awards)God in the Shadows' by Santiago J. Monroy García. Runner-up in the 'Into the Forest' category. An Andean bear, Colombia, 2023 (Image credit: Santiago J. Monroy García / Environmental Photography Awards)The Passenger' by Pietro Formis. Runner-up in the 'Ocean Worlds' category. A paper nautilus perched on a group of salps, Philippines, 2024 (Image credit: Pietro Formis / Environmental Photography Awards)Portrait of a Leafy Seadragon' by Daniel Sly. Runner-up in the 'Ocean Worlds' category. A Leafy Seadragon, Australia, 2024 (Image credit: Daniel Sly / Environmental Photography Awards)'Breeding Machine' by Amy Jones. Winner of the 'Humanity vs Nature' category. Elderly Indochinese tigress on a tiger farm, Thailand, 2023 (Image credit: Amy Jones / Environmental Photography Awards)Camouflaged in the Garbage Dump' by Lakshitha Karunarathna. Runner-up in the 'Humanity vs Nature' category. Elephant in the middle of a sea of waste, Sri Lanka, 2023 (Image credit: Lakshitha Karunarathna / Environmental Photography Awards)'No Air in the Pit' by Javier Aznar. Runner-up in the 'Humanity vs Nature' category. Rattlesnakes in a pit, Texas, United States, 2020 (Image credit: Javier Aznar / Environmental Photography Awards)'Caring for the Unseen Giants' by Fernando Faciole. Runner-up in the 'Change Makers: Reasons for Hope' category. Giant armadillo’s paw, Pantanal region, Brazil, 2023 (Image credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards)'Little Giant’s Walk' by Fernando Faciole. Runner-up in the 'Change Makers: Reasons for Hope' category. Young giant anteater undergoing rehabilitation, Brazil, 2024 (Image credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards)
The Public Vote prize was awarded to Fernndo Faciole for an image of a recovering tapir. The tapir was rescued from one of the largest fires recorded in the Pantanal biome, Faciole said.
After the Flames, Hope' by Fernndo Faciole. Winner of the Public Vote. Tapir saved from fire, Pantanal region, Brazil, 2024 (Image credit: Fernando Faciole / Environmental Photography Awards)
The contest gave the Monaco Student Vote award to Bamband Wirawan for a photograph of a tiger framed by skeletal remains.
'Forest Guard' by Bambang Wirawan. Winner of the Monaco Student Vote. Sumatran tiger, Indonesia, 2021 (Image credit: Bambang Wirawan / Environmental Photography Awards)
“Photography plays a critical role in highlighting the interconnectedness of individual well-being and environmental health,” said Ami Vitale, a National Geographic photographer, documentary filmmaker, and the lead for the award’s jury. “Images prompt conversation and consideration of how we can protect and value these irreplaceable environments across the planet. They cut through apathy, capture reality, evoke empathy, and ignite action. Through this visual medium, we reconnect people with nature, highlighting not only the perils but also the promise and the hope that exists all around us.”
