How to Win Photography Competitions – 10 Tips from a multi Award-Winner Wildlife Photographer

Wondering how to win photography competitions ? After more than 20 years photographing wildlife and winning awards including Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice, the British Wildlife Photography Documentary Award and multiple other national and international competitions, these are the strategies that have consistently improved my results. So how can you win photography competitions ? Since first writing this guide, I’ve been fortunate enough to add another major milestone by being named Overall winner of the Galapagos photography competition, together with four other awards in it. The principles in this article are exactly the same ones I used when selecting those images.

1. Bribe the Judges… (well, maybe read this first)

Find out who the judges are and then invest some serious time stalking them. Everyone’s got a skeleton in their closet so once you find something incriminating you’re all good to go. Obviously I’m joking. But there is something useful you can do instead.

2. Research the Judges

Look at the judges on the current panel and view their website or social media. Study what sort of images they take. Definitely not to copy them in any way but to get a general sense what they value such as storytelling, originality, emotion, conservation, artistic vision etc.

3. Choose the Right Category

How to win photography competitions by choosing the correct category. Often you’ll have a photograph that could fit in different categories. For example my image of this Wren making a nest under my camper van could work in both urban and animal behaviour. Always enter it in the most suitable category and consider which category gets the least amount of entries. For wildlife photography,  portrait and animal behaviour always get the most amount of entries and this image suits urban wildlife better anyway. Never enter the same photo in different categories.

4. Study Previous Winners

Study the past five years of the competition you are considering entering. Look at every image that’s received an award. It will give you a good flavour of what kind of images do well in that competition. Although judges change each year, plenty of competitions still have a noticeable theme of what type of photos get rewarded. For example Nature Photographer of the Year tends to favour a more creative style.

5. Plan Months Before the Deadline

Don’t leave it too late to enter. Lots of people see on social media that a photography competition is about to close. They go through their portfolio and in a rush enter some images. For the main competitions I enter I always know the deadline months before. It means I can really think if I have any images suitable to submit but more likely I can  shoot specifically for the relevant competition. Many of my competition images were created because I knew the deadline months in advance. The bottom of this page contains links to the main wildlife and nature photography competitions along with timings of when the competitions open and shut.

6. Originality Wins Competitions

Technical perfection is never enough, in fact it’s the minimum requirement. Judges see thousands of technically perfect photographs. What makes them stop is surprise. They will always remember photographs they’ve never seen before. Imagine it from the judges perspective. On the first sweep they are reviewing tens of thousands of photos. You’ll have less than a second to make them pause. Even if your photo of a fox, elephant or bear is perfectly exposed it will be discarded immediately unless it has truly exceptional light or behaviour. They see these type of images again and again. Often my photography stems from ideas. When I come up with an idea for a photo the first thing I do is research whether it’s been taken, before I invest huge amounts of time. This backlit fox in the pouring rain is an example. I like the image but a quick search and you’ll see a plethora of similar shots. I’m still pursuing several ideas for foxes in the rain but due to lack of originality this photo would never get an award in a major competition.

7. Never Enter Similar Frames

If you have a sequence of very similar shots and can’t decide which one is best never enter more than one. It’s your job to determine which is the best image and you could significantly reduce your chances as individual judges will probably score the images differently. For example this image entitled the kiss (taken on one of my Orangutan photography tours) received runner up in people’s choice in LSE photographer of the year. There were about five other images in the sequence. If you enter two similar shots you could divide opinion. One strong entry concentrates the votes.

8. Don’t Share Your Best Images Too Soon

When you take that special image, resist posting it on social media. If you get unlucky and an image goes viral you can seriously reduce the impact when a judge first sees it. Any photos that I think have a chance in a major photography competition are only posted on social media after they’ve either won an award or not achieved much which can be well over a year later.

9. Processing Your Images Without Breaking the Rules

All images need post processing when you take in RAW. Read the rules of the competition but most follow very similar guidelines. You cannot remove or add anything from an image. That annoying twig across part of the face of your mountain gorilla has to stay. White balance, cropping, clarity, vibrance, saturation, noise reduction, dodging and burning are usually fine but only within reason. Your final image after post processing should have the essence of your original RAW file. All competitions ask you to enter as a JPG and then if you reach the finals you’ll have to produce the RAW file. Make sure you keep a few images either side of your special photo as sometimes you’ll be asked to produce them to further verify your photograph.

10. Ask for Honest Criticism

Get an image review from someone you trust before entering. Often we get too close to our photos and remember the crazy travel and waiting game that led to you taking that photo. No one else cares. Avoid showing your images to family members if they always tell you what a brilliant photographer you are. Same with social media; feedback is fine but people are rarely honest in a negative way which is what you need. AI can be useful for reviewing an image but you have to tell it how you want to be judged or it can be annoyingly positive. For example you say something like: I’m thinking of entering this photograph in the portrait category of British Wildlife Photography Awards. Please critique it at the highest level. I don’t want praise – I want to know how it could be improved. But remember never believe everything AI tells you. It almost always suggests a crop of about 10% for some reason. Alternatively if you’re old school and want to talk to a human being you could try my image review service here.

Portfolio Categories Can Be Easier to Win

Entering categories which require multiple photos such as seasons or documentary photography usually get far fewer entries but will need careful planning and usually your images will be taken over a long period of time. Each image should stand out in its own right but together tell a story.

Enter more specialised photography competitions

I’ve just found out that not only have I won this year’s Galapagos photography competition organised by the Galapagos Conservation Trust, but I also have four other images that received awards this year.

“An impressive shot perfectly composed and achieved. It conveys the close existing interaction between wildlife and coastal communities, showing how Galapagos is not only about the wildlife but also the people interacting closely with it.”
Iván Vásquez,  National Geographic

The Best Wildlife and Nature Photography Competitions

There are so many photography competitions these days and most charge an entry fee. These are the ones I recommend.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year – Run by the Natural History Museum, London, this wildlife competition needs no introduction.

Entry period: Usually from mid October each year until early December.

Categories: Animals in their environment, Animal portraits, Behaviour: Amphibians & reptiles, Behaviour: Invertebrates, Behaviour: Mammals, Oceans, the bigger picture, Plants & Fungi, Natural artistry, Underwater photography, Urban, Wetlands, the bigger picture, Photojournalism, Photojournalism story award, Rising star award (18 to 26) and wildlife photographer of the year portfolio award (over 27).

It’s the holy grail for wildlife photographers usually attracting over 60,000 entries from numerous countries across the globe. The final round is about 6000 images and the panel of judges meets at the natural history museum every year to whittle that down to 100 awarded images. You get an invite for two people to a lavish meal under the blue whale at the museum along with the awards ceremony. If you win a category you receive flights from anywhere in the world to attend the awards evening. It’s not called the Oscars of wildlife without reason. I’ve felt seriously under dressed with plenty of people wearing tuxedos and ball gowns (not the same person). The ultimate winner is selected from each category winner and revealed live on the night. It can be career changing even for a highly commended award and you could earn far more than the prize money from merchandise opportunities that the Natural History Museum offer with everything from print sales and calendars to fridge magnets. Press and media exposure is global and massive. My badger photo below was seen by approx half a billion people with 125 TV and radio interviews and over 300 newspapers and magazines covering it which gave me a platform to talk about the English badger cull which resulted in the death of nearly a quarter of a million badgers over the last 15 year at a cost to the British taxpayer of over £60 million. I’m an ambassador for Badger Trust and delighted to announce that the badger cull has finally been stopped. A podcast interview with me on The Camera Cafe show discusses this and can be listened to here.

Nature Photographer of the Year – This year they received over 30,000 entries from 96 countries. Tends to favour more creative photography.

Entry period: Usually from early April to early June.

Categories: Birds, Mammals, Other animals, Plants & Fungi, Landscape, Underwater, Nature Art, Human and Nature, Black & white, Animal portraits, Youth, the Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio award and People’s Choice.

British Wildlife Photography Awards – Receives over 10,000 images each year and produces a beautiful book of the best photographs every year which is a wonderful celebration of British Wildlife. Usually about 850 photographs make the final round with over 200 published in the book and approx 65 images receiving an award.

Entry period: Usually from early March to early June.

Categories: Animal behaviour, Animal portraits, Botanical Britain, Black & White, Coast & Marine, Habitat, Hidden Britain, Urban wildlife, Wild woods, British seasons, Documentary series, 15-17 years, 12-14 years and 11 and under.

Mammal Photographer of the Year – much smaller British competition but supports the incredible work of the mammal society.

Entry period: Usually Nov 1st to 31st January

Categories: Often changes annually but this year: Mammal portraits, Mammals in their landscape, Mammal behaviour, Humorous mammals and Mammal Photojournalism which I also won this year for more badger cull imagery.

London camera exchange – free to enter and with lots of categories including wildlife. Finalists are displayed at British Photography and Video Show and awards presented live on stage. It’s unheard of in the world of photography awards that you aren’t informed about a week before you win an award even when there’s an awards ceremony. But if you make the final shortlist here you’ll have no idea of the results until they are announced live on stage, making it genuinely exciting. Also produces a lovely booklet of finalist images.

Entry period: mid Oct until end of January.

Categories: Wildlife, Birds, Creative, Emerging talent, Events, After dark, Action,  Landscape, Macro, People’s choice, Pets, Portrait, Street & Travel.

World Nature Photography Awards Now in its seventh year, they’ve become recognised as one of the world’s leading nature and wildlife photography competitions with a goal not just to promote the world’s best photographers but also to do something for the planet. They are partnered with Ecologi and plant a tree every time someone enters the competition.

Entry period: normally mid January to end of March but often extended to June.

Categories: Underwater, Animal portraits, Behaviour: mammals, Behaviour: Amphibians & reptiles; Behaviour: Invertebrates, Behaviour: birds, People and Nature, Plants and Fungi, Nature Art, Planet Earth’s Landscapes & Environment, Black & White, Animals in their habitat, Urban wildlife and Nature Photojournalism.

Monochrome Awards International photography competition celebrating black & white imagery. Winners are published in a beautiful coffee table book each year. 

Entry period: July to mid November

Categories:  Wildlife, Abstract, Architecture, ConceptualFashion, Beauty, Fine Art, Landscapes,Nature, Nude, Photojournalism, Photomanipulation, Portrait & Street.

Outdoor Photography Magazine Competition Outdoor Photography magazine features regular reader challenges, monthly image submissions and features on major external photography contests. You can submit your work and find active details here. 

British photography awards – A major British celebration of photography with many categories. For wildlife there is: best land animal photographer, best bird photographer and best macro photographer. A lavish awards gala in London which is expensive to attend.

Entry period: usually mid August until 1st November.

Other wildlife photography competitions

There’s so many other competitions that have wildlife and nature categories including Sony World Photography Awards, Siena international photography awards, Mont photo awards, Bird Photographer of the year, & Natural landscape awards

What Judges are Really Looking For

One of the biggest misconceptions is that judges are looking for the technically perfect photograph. They’re not. All major competitions receive many thousands of beautifully exposed, perfectly sharp images. Technical excellence is simply the entry ticket. What makes judges stop scrolling is surprise. It might be a behaviour nobody has seen before, an unusual composition, extraordinary light or a completely original idea. An unusual photo of a common animal always stands out. The photographs that win are often those that make the judge pause for just a little longer.
When I won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award, it wasn’t because my badger photograph was technically better than thousands of others. It was because it told a story and made people smile. My documentary series on the badger cull succeeded for a different reason. It wasn’t about one spectacular image, but about using photography to tell an emotional story. The lesson is simple. Don’t ask yourself, “Is this a good photograph?” Instead ask yourself, “Would this photograph make a judge stop?” If the answer is yes, you’ve probably found an image worth entering.

How to Win Photography Competitions – Stay Local

Jetting off to an exotic location to photograph something you’ve never seen before is exciting and also a great way to instantly shift you off creative plateaus. However, the reality to increase your chances of winning photography competitions is to focus on your local patch – get to know every single area within twenty minutes of your house. If you live in a city it might be urban foxes, pigeons and spiders. In the countryside, badgers, owls and butterflies. Watch, study and photograph them and  get to know the behaviour of every critter you find. Go back time and time again to the same place at different times of day and year. I love the quote “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working”. Eventually you’ll evolve an idea to photograph something in a completely original way. Have a look through the past few years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year and you’ll notice how few shots of classic African safari wildlife there are. Why ? Everything has been photographed so widely for so long that originality on a two week safari is virtually impossible to achieve. A mouse in your back yard offers a far greater chance.

How to Win Photography Competitions – an Afterthought

I run a very limited mentoring program each year and one of my clients recently told me how much stress she gets from entering photography competitions. She said virtually every day she looks at the photos she’s entered and as the deadline approaches for high res image requests she feels increasingly nervous. Then if she gets through to the final round this repeats itself until the results are announced at which point if she’s not selected she feels major rejection and suffers quite a set back in her photography. Once you’ve entered a competition my advice is to forget about it. Certainly never look at the images you’ve entered again. Crack on with your photography journey and keep learning, loving and exploring. Organisers of large photography competitions are of course extremely busy. Often their time scales for high res RAW requests slip so please never email them about this. At the end of the day photography competitions should be fun and just by entering you’ve learnt something. Ultimately the results are determined by a small number of human beings and therefore highly subjective. Sometimes people enter exactly the same image the following year and it wins an award whereas the year before it didn’t even make the final round. Rejection is part of the life of a professional wildlife photographer. If you can’t handle it I wouldn’t enter competitions and just stick to social media where everyone makes lovely comments ! Good luck in whatever you do. Cheers.