The editors of NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY magazine invite all photographers to enter the 2009 NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY WINDLAND SMITH RICE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS competition.

More than $15,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded. The winning photographs will be published in the Awards 2009 Collector’s Edition of NATURE’S BEST PHOTOGRAPHY, and may be selected for our annual exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, and displayed in other locations and photo gallery presentations related to the Awards competition. Entries are judged on technical quality, originality, and artistic merit. Enter a TOTAL of up to 20 images for one entry fee ($25 US no foreign checks).

DEADLINE: UPLOAD OR POSTMARK NO LATER THAN MAY 4, 2009

CATEGORIES:
The Nature’s Best Editors reserve the right to move a submission from one category to another as they see fit.
ANIMAL ANTICS:
Wildlife in humorous or surprising situations.
ART IN NATURE:
Naturally occurring artistic compositions (colors, forms, textures, etc.) in nature.
BIRDS:
Wild birds in native habitats displaying plumage, mating rituals, nesting, feeding, or other behaviors.
CAMERA CLUB:
Up to 20 photographs may be submitted as a group entry by a camera club. Each individual image in a camera club submission must fit within one of the contest categories, without exception. NOTE: Each individual member can contribute no more than three (3) images to the group submission. The entry will be judged as a portfolio and selected on the overall excellence of the entire group of images. Participating club members are also permitted to submit their own entry (up to 20 images) separate from the Camera Club entry, and may include the same images in both submissions.
CREATIVE DIGITAL:
Any nature-related image or combination of images that is created and/or manipulated using digital/electronic technology (such as Adobe® Photoshop®). Let your imagination go wild! Please provide the details on all techniques used. EXCEPTION: Panoramic images created by digitally stitching two or more images together may be entered into other categories as appropriate.
ENDANGERED SPECIES:
Plants or animals that are listed as endangered species by the IUCN. Please visit www.redlist.org to confirm the endangered status of a species before submitting to this category.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES:
Images that document current environmental issues, such as pollution, global warming, loss of habitat, etc.
INDIGENOUS CULTURES:
People living within their ancient historic communities, practicing their traditional culture: dress, arts/crafts, dance, rituals, hunting/gathering, food preparation, examples of sustainable living, etc.
LANDSCAPE:
Dramatic scenes and unusual perspectives of land providing expansive views.
OCEANS:
The fascinating world of the sea: tide pools, coral reefs, marine life, waves, etc. Photos taken above the ocean’s surface, related to ocean life, are also welcome.
PEOPLE IN NATURE:
People enjoying the outdoors: backpackers, kayakers, divers, hikers, etc., in natural settings.
PLANT LIFE:
Flowers, trees, and other flora in natural habitat. May include wide vistas.
SMALL WORLD SPECTACULARS:
Shots of plants, animals, and miniature landscapes taken with macro lenses.
WEATHER:
From dramatic storms to tranquil skies—weather in all its fury and forms. (Tornados, hurricanes, floods, rain, wind, cloud formations, etc.)
WILDLIFE:
Wild animals (mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc.—birds are a separate category, see above) photographed in their natural habitat (no captive animals).
YOUTH PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR:
An entry of up to 20 photographs may be submitted by photographers 18 of age or younger. Each individual image in a youth submission must fit within the contest categories, without exception. NOTE: Please be sure to include your date of birth and current age on your entry form.
ZOOS & AQUARIUMS:
Images may include animal portraits, behavior, zookeepers working with animals, visitors (may require model release), special events, etc. All photographs must have been taken at zoos and aquariums belonging to the World Association of Zoos & Aquaria (WAZA). See the complete WAZA list at www.waza.org.

Competition Link / Set Reminder

Judging the best in digital photography
Deadline: 31st March 2009
This year’s theme: Living Planet

Celebrate an extraordinary place to live – Earth.

We live on an incredible planet. From the biggest, bustling metropolises, to seemingly barren plains, our planet is bursting with all kinds of life. We’re its beneficiaries, and its caretakers.

What makes our planet so alive? Is it the more than 6.5 billion human beings going about their business? The changing climate, or conservation efforts? Is it frenetic cities or untamed wilderness?

Turn your photographic eye towards our amazing planet and show us what you see – and you could win some fantastic prizes.

About the award

The Lumix Award is awarded each year to celebrate excellence in digital photography.

It was established in 2003 to showcase the unique creativity associated with digital photography – no longer bound by the constraints of 35mm film cameras.

Each year’s competition centres on a different creative theme. Previous themes have included “Man and Machine” (2003), “Perfect Place” (2004), “Everyday Adventures” (2005), “Same Sights – Different Views” (2006), and “Capture your Culture” (2007). This year’s theme is “Living Planet”.

How it works

Upload your images exploring the theme “Living Planet” for your chance to either become a monthly or overall Lumix Award winner.

You can enter one image per month for the 2008 Lumix Award before the closing date on 31 March 2009.

Each photograph you submit will be entered into the monthly competition, and will also go into the running to win the overall prize. Your photographs will be judged by professional photographers.

Please note: all photographs entered must be taken with a digital camera.

Overall prize

Win a once-in-a-lifetime trip to one of the world’s natural wonders – the Eden Project in Cornwall, England.

The overall winner of the Lumix Award competition – the single best digital still image we receive – will win a 5-day trip for two to Cornwall, England, including two 3-day passes to the Eden Project, where the winner and his/her guest can experience and explore its global garden.

The winner will also receive a Lumix DMC-G1 digital camera. This versatile camera offers you an amazing photographic power being incredibly light and packed with smart features in an extremely small and stylish body. Take it with you everywhere. It’s the perfect camera for this year’s Lumix Award theme.

Lumix LX3
Two lucky runners-up will receive the brilliant compact Lumix LX3, a digital camera featuring true 16:9 format.

Lumix FZ28 Digital camera
Every month for the duration of the competition one winner will be chosen by a member of the judging panel from a shortlist to win a Lumix FZ28 Digital camera.

Competition Link / Set Reminder

Renaissance is an international photography competition to raise money for the Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care.

Martin Parr, Eamonn McCabe and Charlie Waite are the judges; over £5,000 in cash prizes to be won and 60 finalists will be exhibited at a celebrity private view in March 2009. All proceeds go to the charity.  Last year’s competition raised £30,000 and was featured in the Times, the Evening Standard and various photography magazines.

The 2009 competition runs until 11 January 2009.  It is open to both amateur and professional photographers.

The theme is Moments that Matter and there are 3 categories:
- Emotion
- The Human Body
- The World We Live In

Prize money
There are lots of opportunities to win something. The overall winner of the competition will receive the Renaissance Prize of £3,000. The winner in each category will receive the category prize of £500. The runner-up in each category will receive £250.

Exhibition
And for 60 finalists, there is an additional benefit of getting real exposure with an exhibition in a leading London gallery where your work will be sold. You’ll even get a share of the proceeds.

Competition Link / Set Reminder

PNY Technologies, Inc. announced that they will donate $100,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as part of the 2008 Thanks and Giving campaign to help find cures for pediatric cancer and other deadly diseases.  PNY also unveiled a family photo contest to raise additional money for the hospital.

St. Jude, located in Memphis, Tenn., is the only pediatric cancer research and treatment facility where no child is ever turned away because of the family’s inability to pay.  With an average of 5,400 patient visits annually and research findings shared with doctors and scientists worldwide, the hospital depends on corporate and public contributions for it to thrive. 

PNY is encouraging parents and customers to donate through its “Let Our Memory Capture Your Memories” photo contest by including donation and contest information in specially marked packages of select SD memory cards and USB flash drives. Parents can submit a favorite photo of their child to the contest and encourage their friends and family to vote for the photo. The program runs through January 31, 2009.  PNY will donate $20,000 to St. Jude in the winner’s name.

“PNY is extremely proud to join St. Jude in its efforts to improve the lives of so many families around the world.  We’re also very thankful for the healthy children in our lives and believe supporting this outstanding organization is a great way for us to help further their cause,” said Tony Gomez, vice president of sales and marketing for PNY.  “Our goal is to raise another $50,000 for St. Jude through the family photo contest.  It is also a fun way for parents to share the wonderful childhood memories they have captured on PNY SD cards and USB flash drives.”

Grand prize winner
The top 10 photos receiving the most votes will be submitted to a panel of judges who will select
the Grand Prize Winner. PNY will donate $20,000 to St. Jude in the winner’s name.
The winner will receive a PNY prize package valued at $500.

Competition Link / Set Reminder

In 1999, British publisher Hodder Headline (now Hachette Livre) held a global photographic competition called M.I.L.K. (Moments of Intimacy, Laughter and Kinship). Inspired by the 1950s landmark photographic exhibition, ‘The Family of Man’, M.I.L.K. began as an epic global search to find unique and geographically diverse images on the themes of friendship, family and love. It was not only the richest in photographic history, but also one of the most significant, drawing participation from 17,000 professional and amateur photographers in 164 countries. In total over 40,000 images were received by M.I.L.K., including at least four Pulitzer Prize winners. The 300 winning images were chosen by the Chief Judge, Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt, and were the basis for three books entitled Family, Friendship and Love and an international touring exhibition launched at New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 2001.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the original M.I.L.K. competition, M.I.L.K. Licensing, again in association with Elliott Erwitt, is conducting a new competition founded on the themes of friends, families, lovers and laughter to create a new collection of 150 images. The 150 winning images will be published in a new book entitled Fresh M.I.L.K.: Friends, Families, Lovers & Laughter in Fall 2009, and on selected licensed products.

We are seeking outstanding images that capture authentic, spontaneous and humorous moments shared between friends, families and lovers around the world. The judges will select images on the basis of the following:

Images that celebrate friendship, family and love.
Images that tell stories and convey real emotion.
Images that evoke a humorous response.
Technical quality.

The Prizes

The total prize pool is US$125,000 made up as follows:

One Grand Prize winner will receive US$50,000; All 150 winners, including the Grand Prize winner, will receive US$500 for each winning image.

All prize money will be treated as a non-refundable advance against future royalty earnings. Photographers will retain copyright in their images but in order to become prize winners they must grant M.I.L.K. a 10-year non-exclusive licence for the use of their image in book publications and selected licensed products in exchange for ongoing royalty payments. All 150 winners will share equally in royalty income which will be reported, and any monies owing paid, annually.

The competition closes on 31 December 2008

Competition Link / Set Reminder

Enter the WeSay Best of Citizen Photojournalism Photo Contest.

Unlike some other photo contests online, this one is free. You can win a real prize – one of THREE Apple iPhones for the grand prizes, one of three gift certificates for $100, $75 and $25 from Photographer’s Warehouse or a $68.95 Photo Book from dotPhoto. There will also be several Editor’s Choice awards issued. In addition, amateur photographers will be considered for publication on the homepage of the news site – WeSay.

Our photo contest has plenty of categories for everyone – six in all. And you retain complete ownership of the photos you submit to WeSay. So get out there, capture some great photos and enter them to win before the contest ends Oct. 17.

Read the six category descriptions below and enter your photos today for a chance to secure a place in online news history…

News: Enter any news-related photograph.
Special Category: Community activism. Is there a pothole swallowing cars in your town? A dilapidated building that gives the area a worn-down image? Give us a photo of something that you think gives your town a black eye and needs to be fixed.

Politics: Enter any politically-related photograph.
Special Category: Political rallies. This is politics at the grass roots level. Who’s holding a rally in your town? Are they McCain or Obama supporters? How about a local candidate for commissioner or some other office? Take some photos and give them some coverage.
  
Environment: Enter any environmentally-related photograph.
Special Category: Who’s going green? Here’s an opportunity to spotlight someone in your town who is doing something to improve the environment. Are they installing solar panels? Driving a hybrid? Send us a photo and make them feel good for what they are doing to help solve global warming one person at a time.

Sports: Enter any sports-related photograph.
Special Category: Summer sports. It’s summer. It’s hot. Who in your town is out there playing sports in the summer heat? Give us some shots of local athletes of all ages who love to sweat and are active during the summer months.

Celebs: Enter any celebrity-related photograph.
Special Category: Local musicians. We’ve all seen thousands of photos of the big names acts from Britney Spears to Bruce Springsteen. What about the musicians in your town who are struggling to make a living and perhaps break out into the mainstream? Time to give them some recognition.

Far Out: Enter any far-out photograph.
Special Category: Weird pets. They say pets are a reflection of their owner. Do you know some people who own weird pets? How about people who dress up their pets? Here’s a chance to get your own or someone else’s pet in the news.

You may not enter or win if you are a professional photographer.  WeSay considers you to be a professional photographer if you make more than 50 percent of your income from photography.

Competition Link / Set Reminder

Photo Life invites photographers worldwide to participate in its annual photo contest, Image International, by submitting their best shots in the following categories:

PEOPLE
Who they are
What they do
How they do it

NATURE
Landscape, urban or natural
Wildlife, domestic or feral
Environment, old or new

TRAVEL
Here, at home
There, beyond
Everywhere, without borders

You could win some of today’s hottest photo equipment and see your image(s) published in Canada’s #1 photo magazine.

Competition boasts over $60,000 in prizes! Click here for the full prize list.
 
Entry fees are $15 for up to 10 images.

Deadline: September 30, 2008

Competition Link / Set Reminder

Are you the best young photographer living in the UK? – Prove it!

Getty Images invites Britain’s Youngsters to Communicate Life in Britain Through their Eyes with a Nationwide Photography Competition.

How do you see yourself and where you live?

We bet that you and your friends see yourself and your region of Britain differently to those around you, so, if you are 13 to 18 years old and live in the UK, we are offering you the chance to express your life through My Britain, a photography competition aimed solely at you and your friends!

This is an amazing chance to get some of your favourite images of your region in front of not only your friends and family, but a panel of creative and editorial experts from Getty Images.

The winner of Getty Images’ My Britain competition will receive an exclusive day with a famous Getty Images photographer in the area of their choice and will be able to choose from news, sport and entertainment photographer – or creative photography that you can see in advertising. So, you may find yourself shooting a Premiership football match from the sidelines, or spending time in London covering one of the day’s top news stories… or even hob nobbing with the stars at a photo shoot of one of today’s top celebrities in music or film!

My Britain will run from 4th July until 15th September 2007. The shortlist of regional finalists from the South East, South West, London, West Midlands, East Midlands, East Anglia, North East, Yorkshire, North West, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be announced in September 2007 followed by the announcement of the overall winner.

http://www.gettyimagesmybritain.co.uk/

Competition Link / Set Reminder