Back in 1998 when I answered a call from Louise at the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year, little did I know that it would lead to a 26 year collaboration making trophies for the competition winners. Every year I sculpt the animals in the winning images. Sometimes they are straight forward (four legs always helps!) and sometimes, like this year, they are really very challenging.

This year’s winning images included overall winner Shane Gross’s captivating photograph of ribbons of tadpoles swimming through a pond. The judges felt this exceptional image not only demonstrated how beauty in the natural world can be found wherever we look, but also perfectly illustrated how animals, plants and the environment are intrinsically linked.

The jury was captivated by the mix of light, energy and connectivity between the environment and the tadpoles.

For Shane’s sculpture, I wanted to capture the sense of a group. I felt this was important, as the way we respond to animals in a group is different to the way we react to just one or two. The group becomes an entity.

I used sheet copper to convey an impression of underwater stems, cut into shapes designed to give a feeling of movement underwater. I then sculpted individual tadpoles, Raku fired to a lustrous blue. These were set around the tarnished copper stems and fixed into local Devon Slate.

The winning image for the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year was equally challenging for me. Alexis Tinker-Tsavalas captured an extraordinary image of a raspberry-coloured springtail next to a ballooning slime mould.

A photographer attempting to capture this moment not only brings great skill, but incredible attention to detail, patience and perseverance. To see a macro image of two species photographed on the forest floor, with such skill, is exceptional.

For Alexis’s sculpture, I once again collaborated with Daniel Wilds, one of Britain’s leading designer goldsmiths. I’ve worked with Daniel before on the competition. He created a spectacular silver spider in 2021 and silver bee wings for one of the 2022 trophies.

This time Daniel helped me by making the springtail’s delicate legs and antennae, rose-gold plated to match the pink glaze I used for the body. The slime mould was Raku fired and the finished sculpture mounted on local Devon slate.

This year for the first time I was commissioned to make a special set of trophies for the 21 category winners. We choose to use a blue whale to tie in with the recently installed blue whale skeleton suspended from the ceiling in the museum’s main entrance hall.

For this I created a simple press mould from my original whale sculpture. This allowed me to create 21 matching whales, although each one is hand finished. Once fired, I mounted the whales onto slate plinths.

The exhibition, in its sixtieth year, is open now at the Natural History Museum and will be touring the UK over the course of the coming year.