Last night I went to the award ceremony for the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year, and I have to say that the portfolio of winning and commended images is especially impressive this year.
I didn't trouble the judges too much, scraping a highly commended in the Animal Behaviour (not birds or mammals).
There were many award winning underwater images. With 4 category winners and the overall winner being underwater subjects. I guess the PADI project AWARE sponsorship helped! 
Category winners with UW shots were
Goran Ehlme (Sweden) - for a shot of a Walrus that really polarises opinion. Overall Winner, and winner of Animal Behaviour (Mammals).
Michael AW - for a swimming Mimic Octopus (a great shot). Winner of Underwater World.
Tibor Dombovari - for a baracuda portrait. Winner of Animal Portraits.
Andre Seale - for a pretty shot of a turtle being cleaned. Winner of Animal Behviour (not birds or mammals).
Other UW award winners were (in alphabetical order):
Ross Armstrong
Tobias Bernhard
Jordi Chias
John Johnson
Jun Kezuka
Alex Mustard (me!)
Gavin Parsons
Manu San Felix
Carlos Villoch
You should be able to see the winners online here:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/wildphoto/
Alex
Other comments:
Nearly all the winning images were digital. And it surprised me that by far the most popular camera was the Nikon D2X. The Nikon D70 was next most popular, then the Canon 1DS Mk2.
There were few photographers this year winning with multiple images. And few Brits. Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish and Americans dominated.
The press day is today - although I am now in Finland, en route to Estonia.
Alex
