British Wildlife Photography Awards

What you will actually pay

Entry costs, explained.

Adult packs: £35 for 25, rising to £40 from 31 May 2026, plus UK VAT. Youth: ten free images.

Purchased credits expire with the edition. Extra packs can increase spending, so shortlist images before buying. A twenty-five-image allowance is a ceiling for a pack, not a reason to submit every variation. [1]

Local knowledge can be an advantage

BWPA’s geographic focus makes sustained attention to a familiar place particularly relevant. Geographical’s 2026 selection included a swan cygnet in Essex, slime mould in Buckinghamshire and a leaf-cutter bee in Powys. Those examples suggest a useful approach: investigate ordinary surroundings closely enough to find a photograph that goes beyond simply recording the species. [6]

The 15th-edition panel includes Ellie Rothnie, David Chapman, Lara Jackson, Neil McIntyre, Gina Goodman and Danny Green. Their published backgrounds range from conservation biology to underwater photography and natural-history teaching. We see that range as a strength for an award covering both land and sea, while recognising that an expert panel cannot make success predictable. [5]

The photographs have a public life

Geographical’s September 2026 gallery discussed and reproduced winning photographs, including James Lynott’s fluorescing squat lobster from Loch Fyne and Ben Lucas’s young overall-winning cygnet. This is independent editorial use of selected work. The official site also documents its Collection 14 book and UK exhibition tour, making the publishing route more concrete than an unspecified promise of exposure. [6][4]

The distinction between editions matters. Those are the already-announced 2026 winners; the fifteenth competition took entries in 2026 for results in March 2027. Neither previous coverage nor inclusion in a future book guarantees sales or assignments. We would regard the recognition as a useful addition to a wider photographic practice, rather than a substitute for one. [4]

The overall figure already includes the category prize

The adult overall winner receives £3,500 cash including the category award. Other adult category winners receive £500 each. Youth category winners get £100 vouchers and the young overall winner £250 in vouchers, again including the category component. The advertised fund of almost £10,000 is distributed across awards: it is not the amount one photographer receives. [2]

For a young entrant, the most persuasive combination is no entry charge and a chance to have work selected alongside an established programme. For an adult, the individual cash awards are meaningful but too selective to justify speculative spending. Decide whether the publishing opportunity and the exercise of editing are worth the price before considering a possible win. [2]

British subjects, international entrants

Photographers of any nationality can enter, but pictures must come from the UK, Isle of Man or Channel Islands; Overseas Territories are excluded. Youth entrants cannot enter adult categories. The current rules accept images from 1 January 2019 onward. Captive subjects are generally excluded except conservation reporting; ordinary pets and farm animals do not qualify. [3][1]

The FAQ allows normal tonal editing, sharpening and denoising, with specified exceptions for panoramas, HDR, focus stacking and in-camera multiple exposures. Removing a distracting branch is different from cleaning sensor dust. Submit JPEGs at no more than 2MB and 2000 pixels on the longest edge, and preserve untouched originals for verification. Prior publication or another contest’s award does not itself exclude a picture; an earlier BWPA award does. [3]

Read the merchandise and print-auction clauses

Copyright remains yours. Every entrant grants a worldwide, non-exclusive, irrevocable licence for the full rights term, including sublicensing, alteration, books, calendars, merchandise and future competition promotion. Credit is promised. This is broader than a temporary exhibition permission. [1]

An awarded exhibition print may be auctioned for charity without proceeds to the photographer. The entrant can first buy that one print at printing and shipping cost; no additional sales prints are authorised by that clause. We would weigh these uses against existing agency contracts before entering work with commercial licensing value. [1]

The reviewed edition is closed

The official timetable ran from 10 March to 7 June 2026, with book-inclusion notifications expected in November or December and winners in March 2027. Entry uses the linked online account and credit system. The homepage confirms closure, so a news article’s statement that entry is open should not override the organiser’s dated schedule. [4][6]

For the next call, check the new rules before paying and allow time to verify captions and capture methods. A technically clean export cannot correct an ethical or eligibility problem. Accurate notes about where and how the picture was made are part of a strong submission. [3][1]