Profiles

Catriona Parfitt has won the top prize in the young photographers category for her dramatic picture of a lion attempting to attack a giraffe in front of an audience of gemsbok antelope.

The 15 year-old took the striking picture titled, 'The Show' during a family holiday to Namibia. Catriona's photo was picked from a record 32,351 entries from 82 countries.

Catriona took the striking shot one evening as she watched the young male lion repeatedly harassing the thirsty adult giraffe near a waterhole.

"Perhaps a twitchy, solitary giraffe was just too much of a temptation for a bored lion, because every time the giraffe got anywhere near the water, the lion loped down and chased it away," she explains.

Catriona Parfitt

Competition judge, Rosamund Kidman Cox, described the teenager's image as "Quite simply an astonishing shot. Stage, action, story and onlookers combine to make an unforgettable scene."

Catriona's picture will be on show at the annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is open at the Natural History Museum from 31 October to 26 April 2009 and at Moors Valley Country Park and Forest from 31 January – 8 March 2009.

Another Hampshire teenager, Julian Das, was highly commended by the judges for his shot of a lion - his favourite animal - peering between the branches of a tree.

American photographer Steve Winter won Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his picture of a rare snow leopard.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has been running for 44 years and is organised by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. 

Last year, the exhibition at the museum attracted nearly 134,000 visitors, and more than a million others will see the winning photos at regional and international venues after their London debut.