Winner, Underwater Subject category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards, which focus on Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea.

Says winner Eric Lefranc: “This was our second dive in the Witu Islands group. On the first dice I had spotted a beautifully bright pink anemone surrounded by adorable orange clown fish. I had never seen such a colourful display.”

This image was the overall winner of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Glenn Ehmke

“Elephant seals are not a direct threat to gentoo penguins – unlike sea lions or leopard seals, they don’t prey on them. Notheless, penguins can get understandable surly when a seal weighting several hundred kilograms decides to move through a creche with vulnerable chicks around,” says Glenn.

This image won the Bontanical Subject category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards, focussing on Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea: Wolfgang Glowacki

“This image was taken from a helicopter above the Styx Valley at 5:30 am as the morning mist floated among gigantic Eucalyptus regnans. These are the tallest flowering plants in the Southern Hemisphere and can grow to a height of over 100 m. The forest here is zoned for logging in 2010,” says Wolfgang.

See the related gallery of Tasmania’s Veil of Belvoir, with more of Wolfgang’s images.

Finalist, Animal Behaviour category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards, which focusses on Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea: Jurgen Otto

“Each spring, 4-5 mm-long male Australian peacock spiders woo females by shaking their legs and showing off a pair of brightly coloured flaps, a display lasting seconds that few people have ever witnessed,” says Jurgen.

This image was a finalist in the Animal Behaviour category of the ANZANG awards: Jeff Yonover

“This small coral cardinal fish (Siphamia corallicola) appeard to be eating a brightly coloured orange object that definitely seemed too big for it to handle. Upon closer inspection, however, it was actually a large mass of eggs that the male cardinalfish was brooding, as typical of all cardinalfish species,” says Jeff.

Runner-up, Our Impact category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Scott Pertelli

“The image of a deteriorating blue marlin (Tonga, Pacific Islands) illustrates the impact that the practice of tag and release in sport fishing has on such a majestic fish. Thrashing around on a line for hours damaging and ripping skin is not humane, let alone a worthy end to this noble creature,” says Scott.

Finalist, Animal Behaviour category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Jeremy Ringma

“On a rainy summer’s evening, a rock-lined cascade echoes with the mass chorus of red-eyed tree frogs (Litoria chloris) competing to mate. But potential mates are not the only animal active in the rainforest tonight. The highly venomous rough-scaled snake (Tropidechis carinatus) is on the prowl, and again the frog is competing – this time to save its life,” says Jeremy.

Runner-up, Wilderness Landscape category of the Australasian nature photography ANZANG awards: Kah Kit Yoong

“The jagged pink granite peaks of the Pinnacles have always conjured up in my mind the impression of another world. Consequently, I wished to interpret this wild landscape in a surreal way. A long exposure well after sunset in that period of transition of blue-purple to black sky seemed an appropriate time,” says Kah.

See more of Kah Kit’s work here.

Runner-up, Underwater Subject, ANZANG (Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, Papua New Guinea) awards: Justin Gilligan

“The whitemouth moray eel is a shy reef inhabitant that spends most of its time hidden away. However, this individual (at Lord Howe Island) allowed me to look into its fiery eye. As natural light filtered onto the back of the flash, a single strobe captured the facial details as the moray opened wide,” says Justin.

This image was a finalist in the Threatened Species category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Jutta Pryor

“I found this brilliant grasshopper near an exposed sandstone outcrop at the base of the escarpment (at Mt Borradaile, western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory). Dependent on the host plant, Pityrodia jamesii, it lives around the plant’s base after hatching, moving higher up as it reaches adulthood. A reluctance to fly makes its survival susceptible to natural and controlled burning,” says Jutta.

Winner, Interpretive category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Justin Gilligan

“Having spent most of the morning photographing this school of fish, I decided to take a new approach. Dialling down the shutter speed, I set the strobes to front curtain synch and spun the camera in my hands – resulting in whirlpool of fish (in the Great Barrier Reef),” says Justin.

Runner-up, Animal Portrait category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards, which focusses on Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea: Tony Hopkins

“This photo was taken in a small rock pool in my garden,” says Tony.

Winner, Wilderness Landscape category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Denis Glennon

“Early morning fog has the ability to transform even an ordinary scene into something beautiful and magical. This is how I felt when I pressed the shutter. When I opened this image on my computer screen, it captured what I saw and felt that morning,” says Denis.

Runner-up, Junior category of the South Australian Museum’s ANZANG awards: Megan Beltramelli

“Ants are the masters of organisation and cooperation. This shot shows the power of two in an attempt to achieve a goal. The anatomy of the ant reminds me of the armor of a warrior – the details never cease to amaze me,” says Megan.

Winner, Animal Behaviour category of the South Australian Musuem’s ANZANG awards, which focusses on Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and Papua New Guinea: Chris Tzaros

“While photographing a pair of southern scrub robins in an opening within the mallee, one of the birds became extremely curious and was attracted by my attempts to whistle its sweet musical call,” says Chris.