If your idea of relaxing is looking at funny cat photos online, then we’ve got a treat for you. The 2022 Comedy Pet Photography Awards return for another year, celebrating all that’s cute, quirky, funny and adorable about our pets.
The awards were set up by a pair of professional photographers, Paul Joyson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, who already ran the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. This new competition was launched in 2020, just when we needed something to cheer us all up!
It’s become very popular and this year attracted entries from 70 countries all around the world. The panel of judges, which includes TV celebrities, animal welfare professionals and a vet, narrowed the entries down to just 26.
The winning photographer not only scoops a £2,000 ($2,213) prize but also wins a £5,000 ($5,533) donation to charity. Overall, the competition raised funds to donate £10,000 ($11,067) each to three animal charities.
This year’s finalists included a chess playing cat, rabbits, birds, dogs playing in snow, a cat making a phone call and a laughing horse.
All the photographers managed to click the shutter at the perfect moment, capturing that unintentionally hilarious behavior forever.
This year’s category winners included a gorgeous rescue Collie captured discovering water for the first time, a proud mommy mare grinning at the camera with her foal, a ‘smoking’ llama and the world’s happiest husky.
The overall 2022 winner was Japanese cat photographer Kenichi Morinaga (@morikencatphoto) for his photo ‘Boom boom’, featuring two cats playfully headbutting each other in a way that made them look headless.
Moringa chose to donate the charity portion of his winnings to The Cat Welfare Group, a specialist cat shelter in southern England.
The photographer, who often visits the so-called ‘cat island’ Yushima in Kumamoto to take his images, proved a popular choice.
Comments on his Instagram page, where he has 41.8K followers, included ‘please continue to bring smiles to cat lovers around the world’, and ‘your photos are beautiful and adorable’.
If you’d like to enter a photo of your pet for the 2023 awards, you can find out how at the Comedy Pet Photography Awards website.
Judging doesn’t take place until this time next year – so there’s plenty of time to coach your pet, bribe him with cookies – or just hope for the best!
You can find all the finalists in the official gallery.
