Organized by the Chinese National Geography magazine and hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with backing by the China Environmental Protection Foundation and tech giant Qualcomm, this year's competition received 39,366 entries from 83 countries and regions.

Lu's Claw and Heartbeat won him the Best Natural Photographer of the Year award at the competition. The Jury's Award went to South African filmmakers Will and Lianne Steenkamp for Lions of the Skeleton Coast.

The 2025 theme points not only to remote, unexplored geographical landscapes but also to the boundaries of human cognition and the very methods of exploration, says Li Shuanke, president of Chinese National Geography.

"Humanity's unknown frontiers exist not only at the edges of the map but also in how we perceive and protect nature through imagery," he explains.

"Therefore, the competition must be an ascent toward this 'unreachable realm'."

Since its 2020 launch, the competition has amassed nearly 200,000 entries and billions of online impressions.

The contest has become a nexus of art and science that draws more attention to universal themes ranging from biodiversity loss to the wonder of discovery, and portrays China as an emerging curator in the global conversation about the wonders that remain to be discovered, and why they matter to humankind.

The New Discovery Award was a significant innovation in this year's competition. This category prioritizes documented scientific contributions over aesthetic beauty, judging entries against criteria such as evidence of a new species or the rediscovery of a "lost" one.

The competition received 1,222 submissions for this category, according to the organizer.