Winners of the Fritz Pölking Prize both focus on the damage to wildlife caused by urbanization

The winner of the Fritz Pölking Prize has been announced as part of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, presented by the German Society for Nature Photography. 

Within the context of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT) and Tecklenborg-Verlag have awarded this prize 17 times since the death of Fritz Pölking in 2007. 

The award is presented annually for outstanding photographic work, and this year's recipient is Hector Cordero for his photography documenting the dangers of light and glass for migratory birds that crash into New York skyscrapers every year.

Fritz Pölking was a founding member and honorary member of the German Society for Nature Photography, who died in 2007.

According to the society:

"His work received international recognition on numerous occasions and many of his photographs have found their way into a collective memory. Numerous books, lectures and workshops were the basis on which Fritz Pölking reached out to people all over the world; his work remains a source of inspiration and motivation for many photographers."

Codero has been working on his series for the past four years. In the United States alone, approximately 624 million birds die annually due to collisions with glass surfaces, with New York being the epicentre of these collisions, with 230,000 birds dying every year. 

He started out photographing the birds out of an admiration for their beauty, then time began to become aware of the challenges and threats that migratory birds face. As a result, his photography has taken on a more conservation focused approach, deliberately documenting issues to tell stories that some may not want to acknowledge.

He currently combines his work as a scientist and communicator with his role as a nature guide and conservation photographer.

Jury member Hans-Peter Schaub commented: "Hector has managed to tell a story with just a few images, a story that is understandable even without accompanying text. The jury particularly appreciated that he did not solely focus on the undoubtedly dramatic and disheartening aspects but also showed how the problem can be mitigated, even if not entirely solved."

Gianluca Damiani won the Fritz Pölking Junior Prize with his series, also focusing on wildlife survival and urbanization, documenting the struggles wildlife faces in the urban jungle of Rome.   

Damiani said: 

"In urban areas, wild animals must make a wide range of behavioural and physiological adjustments to be able to exploit this expanding habitat type. While many species are negatively affected by increasing urbanisation, others are capable of behavioural and genetic adaptations to large metropolises such as Rome.

The two winners will be honoured at the awards ceremony of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 competition at the GDT International Nature Photography Festival on Friday, 25 October 2024 at 6 pm in Lünen an der Lippe. Admission to the awards ceremony and exhibition opening is free of charge.

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