An electronic entry form and the rules for the 2025 photographic competition are provided below. Those of you that have entered in previous years will notice a couple of minor changes – we have brought the dates forward by a month. We will show the entries at the Club Meeting on 7 October 2025, which has brought the entry date forward a bit as well, with entries due for submission by 8 August. This date allows sufficient time for judging prior to the meeting date without putting too much pressure on our volunteer judges (and the Club thanks them for providing their time and expertise in advance).
Apart from that, there are no other major changes to the competition. The categories are the same as in previous years – Single birds, Groups of birds and Birds in flight. As usual, images containing nests will not be accepted, the required format is the same, and you need to ensure your entries do not contain any identifying details.
The Committee and the judging panel are looking forward to seeing more high quality submissions, as we have been seeing now for many years.
Birding NSW Photographic Competition 2025 Rules
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There is an entry fee of $20 for photographers who are not financial members of Birding NSW.
Pay through online banking: Account name: Birding NSW, BSB: 062 169, Acct. No. 10193174, Commonwealth Bank, Reference: Your surname. -
All entries must be the entrant’s own work.
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Photographs must be of native Australian birds taken in the wild in Australia or in its waters or territories.
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There are three entry categories:
1 – single bird, 2 – group of birds or 3 – bird/s in flight -
No photograph or image will be accepted in which a nest or a nest site is visible.
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Each entrant may submit no more than three (3) images in any one category, for a total of no more than nine (9) images.
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Images may be taken on digital or film camera and must be submitted in digital form.
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Entries should be submitted using the entry process below or via Dropbox (please share your folder of entries with birdingnsw@gmail.com) and must be accompanied by a completed entry form. No emailed entries will be accepted.
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Any form of modification to the images is allowed. However, the entrant must state whether the image has been modified or not and give brief information about the nature of the modification.
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Do not include your name or anything that may identify you on the images.
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Competitors are required to submit their entries in standard.jpg format 1600 x 1024 pixels.
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In submitting entries, competitors acknowledge the right of Birding NSW to publish selected entries, including the top 10 winning images, in its newsletters and on its website.
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No entrant can receive more than one prize.
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The winner will receive $500 and the runner-up $250.
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There will be three prizes of $100 each for the best entry in each of the three categories, apart from the two main prizes.
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Criteria on which entries will be judged include photographic technique and composition, clarity of the bird(s) depicted, rarity of the species or apparent difficulty in obtaining the shot and overall visual impact.
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The judges’ decision is final and distribution of the prizes is at the discretion of the judges, who reserve the right not to award a prize if the entries are deemed not to be of a high enough standard.
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The deadline for all entries is 5:00 pm on Friday 8 August 2025.
All images will be shown, the results announced and the prizes distributed at the Tuesday 7 October 2025 Club Meeting of Birding NSW, at 7:30 pm in the Henry Carmichael Theatre, Level 1, The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney