Wildlife/Animals nominee

The midnight sun shone on this young animal, waving a magical wand over the moment. It is my hope that these scenes won't disappear into memories of the past, but can be witnessed time and again in the future.
Polar bears have become a symbol of climate change. We found this bear at 81 degree north in the Barents Sea, on the edge of the sea-ice. Polar bears depend on fattening prey that lives on the ice, like bearded or ringed seal. But the melting ice-caps destroy the ice-bridges back to dry-land. Thus, the polar bears have to make a choice each year: to follow the ice and get fed but left drifting at sea with vast distances to swim back to shore, or to forgo the diet they need to best survive the winter and stay on solid land. As their livelihood is pitched against high odds, it is even more unsettling to realise how many bears are legally killed each year, a practice scientists found unsustainable.

Irene Amiet is a free-lance writer and photographer.

A native of Switzerland, Irene has lived in the Bermudas, South Africa and Texas prior to moving to Lancashire, England.

She has been active as a research volunteer with Leatherback Turtles in Panama and participated in big cat density research in Limpopo, South Africa.

Irene was marketing manager of the Karongwe Lodges in Limpopo before founding her own fine-art and commercial photography business in Galveston, Texas where she became a free-lance correspondent and blogger on nature photography for the Galveston Daily News.

Her work has been featured in Africa Geographic and found space in National Geographic's prestigious stock library.

Today, Irene runs Knowle Top Studios, a fine art gallery and decor line from Lancashire's market town of Clitheroe together with her photographer husband Duncan Phillips. Irene freelances as a photographer and writes for local lifestyle magazines.

Irene is an avid conservationist and hopes to bring the beauty of our planet to the heart of the people by means of her photography. She is always happy to help conservation organisations through her work.