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| Click here to view the winners of the 2007 competition. |
 Category 1 - Sponsored by Canon
BIRDS IN BRITAIN
1st Prize: Canon 10x24L WP IS Binoculars worth £1,499
Runner-up: £100
Not everyone can jet off to sunny climes to take pictures of exotic and colourful species but the winner of this section will show it is perfectly possible to obtain memorable shots of birds that occur in the UK. All pictures – from a backyard bird to a vagrant rarity – should have been taken in the UK to be eligible. |
 Category 2 - Sponsored by Nikon
BIRDS OF THE WORLD
1st Prize: Nikon D200 DSLR camera worth £1,099
Runner-up: £100
From icy Antarctica to the steamy jungles of Malaysia, there are endless opportunities to capture images that reflect the magnificent beauty of birds – whether it be a portrait, action shot or a picture where the bird is shown in a distinctive habitat. |
 Category 3 - Sponsored by Zeiss
BIRDS IN FLIGHT
1st Prize: Zeiss Victory FL 8x42 binoculars worth £1,055
Runner-up: £100
In this category, your goal is to capture the essence of flight – the power or grace of a bird in mid-air, soaring, taking off or landing. Any other aerial activities, such as food passes or fighting, should be submitted in Category 4. |
 Category 4 - Sponsored by Leica
BIRD BEHAVIOUR
1st Prize: Leica 8x32 BR binoculars worth £1099
Runner-up: £100
In this section the judges will want to see birds doing something – it could be preening, feeding, showing aggression. The winner will be decided on the overall impact of the image but in the event of a tie-break, behaviour that has never been recorded before may earn extra marks. |
Category 5 - Sponsored by Bushnell & Wildlife Watching
BIRDS IN THE LANDSCAPE
1st Prize: Wildlife Watching 4ft Dome Hide worth £189 plus Bushnell Discoverer 8x42 binoculars worth £529 plus Manfrotto 701RC2055V Tripod Kit worth £195
Runner-up: £100
Here’s a class you can win even if you do not possess a massive 500mm lens. We’ll be looking for artistically pleasing shots of birds within the environment – maybe gulls following a plough, a Kestrel on a high rise office block or a Bittern blending into a reedbed. |
Category 6 - Sponsored by Opticron & Fuji
BEST AMATEUR
1st Prize: Fuji S9600 Digital Camera worth £329 plus Opticron Imagic SE 8x42 binoculars worth £399 plus Lowepro Vertex 200 Rucksack worth £165
Runner-up: £100
An amateur is defined as someone who has never received a fee for work reproduced in magazines or books. No image manipulation! |
Category 7 - Sponsored by Gitzo & Kata
BEST DIGISCOPED IMAGE
1st Prize: Gitzo 3540LS Tripod worth £549 plus Kata HB205 rucksack worth £189
Runner-up: £100
Being able to attach a digital camera to a telescope has opened up bird photography to thousands of birdwatchers and amateur photographers. Your subject could be a recent rarity or an aesthetically pleasing shot of a common species but to win you will need to go beyond just getting a frame-filling image. |
Category 8 - Sponsored by Swarovski
BEST PORTFOLIO
1st Prize: Swarovski ATS65HD telescope plus 30xW eyepiece worth £1,390
Runner-up: £100
The category all wildlife photographers want to win. To win this category, entrants must submit three pictures that are linked in some way. Each shot needs to be of prize-winning quality in its own right. |
CONTEST RULES
- The competition is owned jointly by Bird Watching magazine and Warehouse Express. It is open to anyone except those involved in its organisation or employed by Emap plc or Warehouse Express, and their families. All entrants must use the official entry form in Bird Watching magazine (August 2007 issue), or printed from the IWP website.
- Winning entries from each category will be awarded prizes from the competition’s support sponsors and then advance to the final judging to decide the overall title of International Wildbird Photographer of the Year. Runners-up in each category will be awarded £100 cheques by Warehouse Express.
- Each entrant may submit up to three images for each of the solo classes. Each entrant may enter the portfolio class once. The portfolio class requires three images. Entry to this year’s competition costs £20, regardless of how many categories you enter.
- All submitted photographs must have been taken in the three years prior to the closing date and the entrant should be sole author and copyright owner of each image.
- Only images of wild birds are eligible for entry. No captive birds. If protected species are the subject, entrants should submit copies of relevant permits from supervising agencies (ie: Natural England).
- Pictures that have won awards in other photographic competitions, or similar shots from the same sequence, are disqualified from entry. Images previously published in magazines, or similar shots from the same sequence, are ineligible.
- No image may be entered into more than one category.
Formats
- • Entries can be submitted as digital images submitted on CDs or 35mm transparencies in standard size mounts. Prints will not be accepted.
• Digital images should be saved as JPEGs in the highest possible quality setting.
• Minor cleaning of digital images is acceptable, as is the use of levels, curves, colour, saturation, contrast, cropping and sharpening.
• Images that, in the opinion of the judges, have been excessively altered or digitally manipulated will be disqualified. This includes double exposure, sandwich shots and fusing more than one image.
• If your entry reaches the final stages of the competition we may ask to see the original JPEG or RAW file, so please ensure that these are available or risk disqualification.
• Entrants are responsible for the appearance of all images and the judges will make their decisions on what they see on screen. Entrants must submit a sheet of thumbnail images, labelled with species name, with each CD.
Labelling
- • TRANSPARENCIES: Each transparency should be mounted and labelled with category number, photographer name and species name (eg C2/J Smith/Yellowhammer). Put each mounted transparency in a separate envelope and write on it the following information: category number; your name and address; species name; details of location; time of year taken; equipment used. Do not seal the envelope. Place all individual envelopes into one package together with the entry form.
• DIGITAL ENTRIES: Every image should be tagged with category number, photographer name and species name (eg C2/J Smith/Yellowhammer). The CD itself should be clearly labelled with the photographer’s name and categories in permanent ink.
On a separate sheet of paper headed with your name and address, please record the following details for each picture: category number; species name; details of location; time of year taken; equipment used.
Send all CDs in one package together with entry form.
- Return of entries: Transparencies will be returned only if appropriate postage costs are included with entry form. UK-based photographers should include a stamped addressed envelope if they require transparencies to be returned. Digital images and CDs will not be returned.
- Registration fees and postage costs can be paid as follows:
• By Sterling cheques made payable to Bird Watching Magazine
• By international reply coupons
• By credit card form
- The winners will be chosen by judges appointed by the organisers, whose decisions on all matters is final. The organisers reserve the right to disqualify any entrant deemed to be in breach of the rules and to award the prize to the runner-up or third-placed entrant.
- If entries in any particular category fall below the required standard, the organisers reserve the right not to award prizes.
- The organisers and sponsors reserve the right to free reproduction and exhibition in all media of prize-winning or commended entries, but only in connection with this competition and publicity for it.
- The organisers reserve the worldwide, royalty-free right and licence for the full period of copyright to publish winning and commended images in a book or magazine, and at their discretion will pay reproduction fees to photographers.
- All entries are sent at the photographer’s risk and the organisers regret that they cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage.
- CLOSING DATE: Entries and registration fees must be
received by November 30, 2007.
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