Check out the happy winners of the 2023 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards

(CNN) — Get ready to smile, laugh, or laugh, because it’s the most important time of the year for those who love funny animal photos.

The UK-based Humorous Wildlife Photography Awards jury reviewed more than 1,800 submitted images from 85 countries and decided whether they were funny, laugh-out-loud funny or funny.

And the overall winner for 2023––drumroll please, this is a photo worthy of a musical instrument––is a kangaroo doing an air guitar pose.

A female western gray kangaroo was captured by photographer Jason Moore one morning in a field of wildflowers in suburban Perth, Australia. The author won a handmade trophy, a photo bag and a week-long safari in Kenya’s Masai Mara.

There were six category winners, among them young photographer Jacek Stankiewicz, who took the junior prize with his photograph of some squabbling greenfinches, titled “Dispute”. The winner in the underwater category was an image of a dancer-like otter taken by a Singaporean photographer named Otter Kwek, a universal example of a nicknamed or named determinism.

Dancing otter: Singapore won Otter Quek underwater with a photo of a smooth-coated otter caught in a balletic trance. (Credit: Otter Kwek)

Wildlife conservation

Another 10 photos received special mention. These include an elegant Ubud monkey who uses his tail as a fake moustache, an enchanted turtle who befriends a dragonfly and an energetic baby kangaroo who throws “jazz hands” in the air.

Here we present you the photos and special mentions that were part of the winners:

Unexpected dive: A heron face-plants in the water in a photo taken by Italian Vittorio Ricci in Jimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa. (Credit: Vittorio Ricci)

Argument: Winner of the Junior Award and People’s Choice categories, Polish photographer Jacek Stankiewicz sees this young greenfinch claim the world in this heated argument with its elders. (Credit: Jacek Stankiewicz)

Don’t look down: photographer Brian Matthews says this Atlantic puffin was spotted doing a “reverse Snoopy impression” while watching jellyfish off the coast of the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England. Highly appreciated. (Credit: Brian Matthews)

Smoking Gray Fox: Highly acclaimed winner Dakota Vaccaro took this photo of a gray fox in Virginia, USA, chewing on a piece of wood like a cigar. (Credit: Dakota Vaccaro)

Dandy of the Rainforest: This monkey, playfully tucking its tail into a moustache, was captured by Belgian photographer Delphine Casimir at the Ubud Monkey Forest in Bali. (Credit: Delphine Casimir)

Snowball: This spherical white grouse was well prepared for the winter cold, in this photo by Frenchman Jacques Poulard. (Credit: Jacques Poulard)

Depressed Owl: John Blumenkamp photographed a great gray owl again in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. (Credit: John Blumenkamp)

Boing!: This playful baby kangaroo made some shapes by Laura Matthews at Westerfolds Park outside Melbourne, Australia. (Credit: John Blumenkamp)

Helpful macaque: Pratik Mondal was spotted gesturing to the deer in the photograph behind him while in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, India. Highly appreciated. (Credit: Pratick Mondal)

Happy turtle: This swamp turtle appears happy with a dragonfly that landed on its nose, captured by Jahi Finkelstein in Israel’s Jezreel Valley. (Credit: Tzahi Finkelstein)

‘It wasn’t here yesterday!’: Alas! Wendy Gaveney captured a white-winged dove that collided head-on with a cholla cactus in Buckeye, Arizona. Highly appreciated. (Credit: Wendy Gaveney)

One for the family album: Joe Ashdown, from Weston-super-Mare in England, discovered that this north Connaught family had more than just wanted their photo taken. Highly appreciated. (Credit: Zoe Ashdown)

This year’s finalists can be found in our previous article here.

However, this comic anthropomorphization is not without seriousness.

The awards, founded in 2015 by professional photographers Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam, also promote wildlife conservation. This year’s competition supports the Whitley Fund for Nature, a British charity that funds conservationists around the world.

For the unconditioned, the laughter doesn’t end here.

The first Comedy Wildlife Guide African Safari will launch in Tanzania in October 2024, led by awards co-founders Hicks and Sullum and wildlife expert Kate Humble.

An eight-night trip costs £11,425 (about US$13,900) per person in a double room. Beware of laughing moments in open safari vehicles: You don’t want to laugh out loud on a bison migration trail.