Enter Our 2024 Young Wild Photographer Competition Today
Are you aged between 12 and 18 with a camera or a smartphone? Do you love observing wildlife?
Why not enter Hen Harrier Action’s Young Wild Photographer competition?
There are some great prizes on offer, thanks to our sponsors, Opticron, and you’ll get the chance to have your pictures shown on our website and perhaps be interviewed for our live Skydancer Day broadcast on YouTube.
The entries will be judged by award-winning wildlife photographer Richard Birchett. Read more about Richard here.
Capture the essence of Spring - the Season of Renewal
Spring is all about new beginnings, starting fresh and starting over. After months of cold temperatures in the UK and harsh winter weather, Spring is a season of reawakening, bringing everything back to life. From the first tentative showing of snowdrops and daffodils, to the sounds of birdsong, the appearance of buds on trees and the emergence of busy bees and early butterflies, like the Brimstone and Orange-tip, the British countryside is suddenly full of life again.
And that’s what we’d like our competition entrants to capture.
Whether it is a delicate dew-laden spiderweb caught in the early sunlight, the enchanting courtship dance of Great Crested Grebes, or a carpet of bluebells in your local wood, we’d love to see your shots of these welcome signs of renewal.
Entering the Competition
Any young person between the ages of 12 and 18 on 1 May 2024 and resident in the UK can enter the competition. By entering the competition, you agree that Hen Harrier Action can publish your entry on the website, in newsletters and on social media.
We will always give you proper credits and you will otherwise retain ownership and copyright.
You can interpret the theme of Renewal in the broadest sense but you must concentrate on wildlife, plant and insect life in the UK. Our aim is to encourage your interest in the natural world, and amongst those who see your images.
You can enter one image, your best shot from Spring, initially no more than 800 pixels wide, and saved as a JPEG of no more than 5MB. Full size images will be requested from the short-listed entrants.
Your image must be taken this Spring during or just prior to the competition entry period. Images from previous years will not be accepted.
The competition opens for entries on Monday 19th February 2024 and the final date for submissions is midnight on Sunday 31st March 2024.
Judging will take place during April and the winners will be announced live on our Skydancer Day broadcast on YouTube, on Saturday 4th May.
The Prizes to be Won
The overall winning entry will receive a £300 voucher to spend at Opticron, a leading supplier of binoculars, fieldscopes and accessories, and three highly commended entries will receive £100 Opticron equipment vouchers.
Opticron is a leading UK supplier of high quality binoculars, field scopes, digiscoping equipment and accessories, providing wildlife watchers with the best mix of quality, choice, value and customer service. Offering a huge range of compact, lightweight and affordable equipment, with an innovative approach and a drive to deliver ‘smaller, lighter, brighter, sharper’ across every product in their range.
Founded in the UK in 1970, Opticron is a family-owned business with fifty years’ experience in consumer optics. They offer the widest range of quality full-size field monoculars of any company in the business and the innovative and popular Traveller BGA binoculars are the lightest of their type ever! The latest ED versions of this perennial favourite are among Opticron’s best-selling models.
Opticron is delighted to be sponsoring the Young Wild Photographer competition this year, and wishes the best of luck to all the entrants.
Full Rules of Entry
- Age: you must be between 12 and 18 years of age on 1st May 2024 to qualify for entry.
- Entrants can interpret the theme of Renewal in a broad sense but you should concentrate on wildlife, plant and insect life in the UK.
- All images should be substantially the work of the entrant. Please credit any other people who might appear in the photo.
- Initial submissions should be no larger than 800 pixels wide and no more than 5Mb, in JPEG format. Full size images will be requested when a short list has been created.
- All winning and commended entrants will be given publicity and a national platform on our website, newsletters and social media channels.
- The best entries will be shown at Skydancer Day 2024 and, subject to minimum standards, all will be placed on our website for subsequent viewing. The creator of the entry the judges decide is the best, may be interviewed (if available) about their work and the interview shown at a Skydancer Day/Hen Harrier Day event.
- They will also be awarded a prize of £300 in the form of a voucher from Opticron. The creators of three highly commended entries will be awarded prizes of £100, also in the form of an Opticron voucher.
- All entries must:
- Not be offensive, though it can be as hard-hitting as you wish it to be.
- Be consistent with our values.
- By entering, you agree to be interviewed about your work if asked.
- By submitting your entry, you grant permission for Hen Harrier Action to use it, including on our website, YouTube channel and other social media. We will always give proper credits and you will otherwise retain ownership and copyright.
- Trustees and immediate family of Hen Harrier Action are ineligible.
- Entries which in the opinion of the judges promote misinformation will be disqualified.
- In preparing your entry, you must not:
- break the law regarding disturbance of nesting birds.
- put rare birds at risk because of your actions or movements.
- make unsolicited approaches to leading figures.
- The opinion of the judges will be final. Unfortunately, we cannot undertake to give feedback.
- By submitting your entry, it is understood that you have read and agreed to the rules of the competition.