This year a teenager became the youngest person ever to win the top prize at the Society of German Nature Photographers (GDT) awards. Hermann Hirsch is the youngest member of the GDT at only 18 to take home a prize at from the annual competition. His winning photograph “Urban Idyll”, is that of a fox in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia.

His idea for the photograph came when he spotted a litter of eight baby foxes playing around the entrance of their den. According to Hermann, “The one in the photograph is the biggest of this litter of foxes. He was always the last one to leave the den and he also regarded me with the greatest suspicion."

"One evening when the little foxes played and scrapped right before my very feet, the ‘big one’ would only sit there and watch the summer sun go down. What an idyllic scene in the centre of the Ruhr region.” This was after waiting for hours each day in a nearby wooded area to get the perfect shot of a fox.

Hermann was awarded the coveted title of overall winner out of 226 entrants and 3,577 photographs. The photos will be on display at the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) in Bonn, from May 23rd until the end of September.

The Photo Categories included: Birds, Mammals, Other Animals, Plants and Funghi, Landscapes, Nature's Studio and newly added this year Animal Portraits. Enjoy Hermann's winning photo and other wonderful photos from some of the other contestants below.