There's only a few days left to get your entries in for this competition!

Our first photo competition for this year is Best of 2018.  As the name implies, we invite you to submit your best image(s) taken during 2018.

This competition is open to members for submission of entries until Monday 25^th February 2019.  The normal 2-year time limit for photos does not apply for this competition; images for this competition must have been taken during 2018 (ie. between 1^st January 2018 and 31^st December 2018).  Images submitted to previous competitions, or to the New Images gallery, may be submitted to this competition; if you choose to do this, you must resubmit the image to the competition gallery; images cannot be moved from another existing gallery.  See the Photo Gallery - Competitions section for full details and rules of our competitions, and quick access to the current competition galleries.

For this competition, we are trialing a larger image size for the Advanced level.  In that category, images may be up to 1800px wide and 1800px high; at least one of the image dimensions must be 1800px.  The image filesize limit has also been increased, to 2560kB.

Best Photograph of the Year - Interchangeable Lens Camera

Regent Bowerbirds -Brian O'Leary

Best Photograph of the Year - Fixed Lens Camera

Australian Pelican - Rodger Scott

The winners of these Photographs of the Year will receive a BLP gold medal.

The BirdLife Photography Annual Award for 2018 - our most prestigious award - goes to Tim Van Leeuwen.  This award is made to the member who excels against the following criteria:

• submits at least 24 high quality images to the image galleries on the website during the calendar year,
• participates in at least 50% of the Current Competitions organised during the calendar year,
• actively contributes to at least one of a range of BirdLife Photography activities, events, project or resources that benefit our members.

Tim’s contributions, against these criteria, were as follows:

• Submitted over 100 images to non-competition galleries. 17 of these appeared in the “Recent Picks” sidebar.
• Entered every competition during 2018, winning the Member’s Voting and Mystery Reviewer's award in one of these competitions for the year; many other competition entries received commended results.
• Established our social media sites on Instagram and Facebook, and continues to manage those sites.

Tim’s contribution to BirdLife Photography throughout 2018 was truly outstanding, and we thank him for his efforts.  Congratulations Tim!

The award is presented as a multi-faceted crystal, with a frosted white-on-crystal BLP logo and laser inscription, in a velvet presentation case.

Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for results in each level of every competition held in 2018.  These awards are based on the results from both Mystery Reviewers and Member Voting, and competition participation.  The medals, in their display cases, are shown below.

Advanced Level

• Gold Medal - Wilson Lennard
• Silver Medal - Brian O'Leary
• Bronze Medal – Con Boekel
• Bronze Medal – Glenn Pure

Intermediate Level

• Gold Medal – Bill Harding
• Silver Medal – Doug Castle
• Bronze Medal – Hayley Alexander

Entry Level

• Gold Medal – Chris Young
• Silver Medal - Warren Bennett
• Bronze Medal – Jennifer Carr

Most Improved Photographer of the Year

There was no obvious candidate for this award in 2018, so it has not been awarded.

The Queensland Conservation Council has launched Queensland’s Natural Wonders Photography Awards, to recognise and celebrate the power of images - and the importance of photographers - in protecting our natural world.

They're looking for outstanding new images that showcase Queensland’s natural environment; unique plants and wildlife; and the connection between the people of Queensland and their beautiful state. The competition is open for entries from now until 8 March 2019; visit https://www.queenslandconservation.org.au/photocomp for details.

“My hope is that my images will inspire a stronger connection with the nature that lies within and around us, as it is infinitely worthy of our deepest respect and care.”
– Cristina Mittermeier, founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers