Birdlife Australia Photography Awards

Competition Rules

1. The organisers of the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards (Competition) are BirdLife Australia and its special interest group, BirdLife Photography (Organisers).  

2. In entering the Competition, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the Competition rules and entry requirements. This also applies to entrants under the age of 18 and their parent and/or guardian. 

3. Any entry that does not comply with the Competition rules and image and submission requirements may be disqualified at any stage of the Competition, without notice to the entrant. This includes any entry that cannot be authenticated or is not of an acceptable quality.  

This decision is at the sole discretion of the judges and Organisers, and no refunds or allowances will be made in the event of a disqualification. Any rule breaches are the sole responsibility of the entrant.   

 

Who can enter 

4. The Competition is open to photographers of any age and experience, including amateur and professional photographers. However, there are some limitations as to who can enter the Competition. 

5. Entrants in the Youth category must be under 18 years of age at the time entries close. Photographers under 18 must have the consent of a parent or guardian to enter the Competition. The Organisers may request proof of age and/or consent at any time. 

6. Entrants may be of any nationality and can reside outside of Australia, however only photos of Australian birds (taken within Australia or on Australian offshore islands and territories, see rule 16) will be accepted.  

7. Individuals (and their partners and immediate family members) involved in organising, sponsoring or judging the Competition are ineligible to enter. This includes BirdLife Australia staff, BirdLife Photography organisers, Competition judges and employees of sponsoring organisations.  

 

Submitting entries 

8. Entries must be submitted online only through the official Competition website at www.birdlifephotoaward.org.au. For instructions on how to enter, visit our FAQs page. 

9. Entries open at 8:00AM AEST on Friday 16 May 2025, and must be submitted before the Competition closes at 11:59PM AEST on Monday 28 July 2025.

10. Images must be submitted to the official Competition website as digital files in JPG or JPEG format and in RGB colour space.  

Each image must be a maximum file size of 6 megabytes and measure at least 1800 pixels on the longest side.   

Images which do not meet these requirements will be rejected at the time of submission. Entrants will need to review and resolve the issue by re-submitting their entry to meet these specifications, ensuring it is the correct file type, size and colour space.  

Entry fee 

11. We charge a modest entry fee, which supports our bird conservation work and helps fund the prize pool and offset running costs. 

A discount for Early Bird entries will apply from 16 May until 16 June 2025. 

Prices are per entry, are in AUD and include GST. Entry fees for the 2025 Competition are as follows: 

Open Categories 

  • First 5 entries: $10 Early Bird / $12 regular 

  • 6–12 entries: $7 Early Bird / $8 regular 

  • 13+ entries: $6 Early Bird / $7 regular 

Portfolio Category  

(collection of 6 photos per portfolio) 

  • Early Bird: $35 (per portfolio) 

  • Regular: $45  

Youth Category 

(for entrants under the age of 18 only) 

  • First 5 entries: $4 each 

  • 6–12 entries: $2.50 each 

12. Entries are only accepted with a completed online entry form and processed payment. Once an entry has been submitted and paid for, no refunds will be provided.  

Categories

13. Entries are permitted to the following categories: 

  • Backyard Birds 

  • Bird Behaviour 

  • Bird Portrait 

  • Birds in Flight 

  • Birds in the Landscape 

  • Special Theme: Diurnal Raptors 

  • Youth 

  • Human Impact 

  • Portfolio Prize 

In 2025, there will also be an inaugural Grand Prize for BirdLife Australia Photographer of the Year. Judges will review all entries to decide the overall winner, so any entrant in any Competition category will be eligible for this Award.  

14. While there are no time or date restrictions on when an image was taken, there are limitations to the number of images each photographer may submit to each category. These are as follows: 

  • Youth category: up to 12 images 

  • Portfolio category: up to 2 portfolios of 6 photos each 

  • All other categories: up to 6 entries (images) per category. 

While entrants may choose to submit the same image to multiple categories, they will still be charged per entry. For example, photographers will pay two separate entry fees for an image submitted twice.  

Prizes

15. Each category winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, thanks to the generous support of Competition sponsors Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation.  

The winner of the Portfolio Prize will receive a $2,000 cash prize, while the winner of the inaugural BirdLife Australia Photographer of the Year Award will receive a Nikon Z 8 camera valued at $7,449 RRP – both courtesy of Principal Sponsor, Nikon Australia.  

 

Image requirements 

16. Images entered in the Competition must: 

  • Depict Australian bird species and subspecies as listed in under the HANZAB Taxonomy section of the HANZAB website.   

  • Depict a species (or subspecies) from the bird group or family specified (when entering the Special Theme category).  

  • Meet the criteria for the category/categories entered, as decided by the Competition judges. 

  • Be of a wild bird or birds. Photos of captive or pet birds can only be entered in the Human Impact category, but must be disclosed upon entry. 

  • Be captured in accordance with any relevant laws and regulations, with minimal disruption to the bird and its habitat. 

  • Be taken in Australia or on Australian offshore islands and territories (including Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Heard Island, Macquarie Island and McDonald Island). 

 

Ethical bird photography

17. Entries must adhere to the BirdLife Photography Code of Ethics. Bird welfare must always come first, and entrants must not do anything to injure or distress a bird or damage its habitat to photograph it. Entrants must not use potentially harmful or unethical photography practices such as call playback, live baiting or altering the bird’s natural environment for photographic purposes. Photos of nesting birds are not permitted, and entries in violation of these guidelines will be rejected. 

18. Images must not be captured with drones or automatic trail cameras or camera traps. However, photos captured using a manual, remote-control camera trigger are permitted. 

Image description/caption

19. Entries must include a brief description (caption) outlining the photographer’s experience taking the photo. This should include: 

  • Where the image was taken  

  • How the image was taken (including if any baits or lures were used to attract the bird, and if so, of what nature) 

  • The bird species/subspecies depicted (if known) 

  • What is happening in the photo and the behaviour observed 

  • Why the photo is meaningful and any relevant background story. 

Entrants are encouraged to provide an informative but concise description for consideration of no more than 100 words. Shortlisted or winning image descriptions may be edited for brevity.  

Portfolios submitted to the Portfolio Prize must include a statement explaining why the photographer chose this series and how each photo is connected. 

Caption information must be complete, true and accurate.  

20. The BirdLife Australia Photography Awards uphold the principle of “blind judging”. To ensure fairness and impartiality, photographer names are omitted to ensure judges can assess images on creative and photographic merit alone without knowing the entrant’s identity. Entrants must not include their name on the photograph (e.g. as a watermark), in the image description, caption, title or file information or in any comments.   

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital manipulation

21. All entries must be the original works of the photographer and must not be created by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and must only use AI as permitted in rule 22 below. As a photography competition, entries must be captured entirely with a digital, film or phone camera. 

22. While some digital manipulation is permitted, this must not compromise the authenticity or integrity of the original photographic image and its subject and scene. Photos must accurately portray and represent the reality of nature, including the bird and its surroundings, and must not deceive the audience.  

Images can be in colour or monochrome, but must not contain borders, signatures or watermarks.  

Acceptable digital manipulation includes: 

  • Cropping 

  • Moderate (and realistic) adjustments or enhancements to colour and saturation, brightness and contrast, sharpness, tone, white balance, lighting levels and curves and shadows and highlights.    

  • Moderate dodging and burning (selective lightening and darkening) 

  • Removal of dust spots, and  

  • Reduction of image noise. 

Unacceptable digital manipulation includes adding, moving, removing or altering any elements, objects or parts of birds and plants, such as: 

  • Painting the foreground or painting out the background 

  • Cloning 

  • Blurring 

  • Erasing  

Photos captured with multiple exposures (taken consecutively at the same time and location) such as HDR, focus stacking and panoramas are acceptable. However, composites (combining or blending multiple photographs to make a single image) are not permitted.  

While minimal use of AI noise reduction and sharpening technology is allowed, photos must not be edited using generative AI. Any unacceptable digital manipulation of an entry may result in disqualification.  

Copyright and usage  

23. Each entrant warrants that their entries are original and do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of any third party. Each entrant agrees to indemnify the Organisers against all costs or loss suffered as a result of any claim by a third party arising from a breach of the warranty set out in this rule.

24. Any person/s featured in an entry must have given prior permission for their photo to be used. Any issues arising from a featured third party are the sole responsibility of the entrant.  

25. While image copyright will always remain with the photographer, any photos submitted to the Competition may be used by the Organisers and official sponsors for marketing and promotional purposes. Photographers will be credited appropriately when their images are used in accordance with these rules.   

If an entry is used for promotional purposes while judging is still underway, the Organisers may choose to omit the photographer's name until after the Competition has closed so as not to compromise the blind judging process.  

26. By entering the Competition, entrants grant the Organisers a perpetual, non-exclusive licence to reproduce, publish, exhibit or communicate their name and image, by any means and in all media, without payment. This includes social media, online and print communications for the purposes of:  

  • Judging the Competition 

  • Promoting the Competition (including future competitions), and 

  • Bird advocacy, conservation, communications and research efforts.  

This includes any publicity, advertising and promotion of the Competition by media partners. The Organisers are not responsible or liable for any image misuse by external third parties. 

27. The Organisers are entitled to crop or resize any images prior to publication, and may contact the photographer to request a higher resolution copy as required.  

 

Judging 

28. A judging panel is appointed by Organisers ahead of the Competition. Their details will be published on the official Competition website.  

29. Judging is conducted in rounds, in which judges assess and score entries according to standard criteria including composition, originality, technical expertise, ethical practice and overall visual impact.  

Judges will score and select a shortlist of finalists in the Competition, then decide a winner for each category. Commended and Highly Commended certificates will also be awarded to outstanding entries.  

30. Finalists are required to provide the original, unprocessed camera file to verify the integrity of the original photographic image and compliance with the Competition rules. 

  • For most photographs, this will be the RAW, uncompressed camera file. As most digital cameras have their own RAW format unique to the manufacturer, any RAW file format is acceptable – including ARW (Sony), CR3 (Canon), NEF (Nikon), ORF (Olympus) or PEF (Pentax) format. Untouched JPEG files (with a range of ‘before’ and ‘after’ files) are also permitted. 

  • DNG formats are NOT accepted. Photographers who prefer to process their images in DNG format must retain the original unaltered RAW image file.  

  • Failure to provide any original image as requested within 2 weeks may result in disqualification by the Organisers.  

  • If further authentication is required, the Organisers reserve the right to ask the photographer to supply a range of ‘before’ and ‘after’ original files. 

31. Photographers may choose to enter the same image into other national and international photography competitions, and will not be disqualified from the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards in doing so.  

Entries that have won an award in other public photography competitions are also permitted. This includes publicly announced awards (e.g. winner, runner-up, commended, honourable mention, shortlisted or selection as a finalist).  

However, as the judges are encouraged to take originality into account, it will be at their sole discretion to decide whether such entries will be considered for an award. The judges will favour photographs that have not already been awarded in other similar photography competitions.  

32. Entrants who are selected as finalists and winners will be notified in strict confidence once judging is completed. Entrants must not disclose the details of any shortlisted or winning entries to any third party, and this information must be kept confidential until it is announced publicly on the official Competition website. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.  

33. Any entrant that contacts a judge about the Competition before the finalists or winners have been announced will be disqualified.  

34. In the unlikely event that judges decide no entries within a category are of an acceptable standard, they may decide not to award a winner and prize for that category.   

35. Judges' decisions are final, and no further correspondence will be entered into (see rule 3). 

Privacy

36.  The Organisers collect personal information from you, including your name and contact details, and entry is conditional on providing this information. The Organisers will use this information:

  • to provide information and updates about the Competition, including to notify you if you are a winner and to send you a prize;

  • to announce and publish the names of winners; and

  • to credit submitted entries appropriately if your entry is published or displayed.

For more information about how your personal information is collected, used and disclosed please see BirdLife Australia’s Privacy Policy.

General terms 

37. The Organisers will make all reasonable efforts to conduct the Competition as outlined in the above rules. However, in the unlikely event that the Competition is rescheduled, modified (including any changes to the rules) or cancelled, the Organisers will not be liable for any losses incurred to the extent permitted under Australian law. 

38. All direct communication with entrants will take place via the email address provided upon entry. If contact is unsuccessful, the Organisers will not be liable for any losses.  

39. Prizes are as advertised, non-negotiable and non-transferable. Any additional costs incurred in receiving the prize, such as taxes or bank charges, are the sole responsibility of the entrant. 

40. Winners must claim their prizes within 3 months of the winners announcement or make alternative arrangements with the Organisers. Failure to do may result in said prize being forfeited at the sole discretion of the Organisers.