Please learn and comply with the principles rigorously. Failure to adjust to all guidelines will disqualify your entry.
Official Rules
You should buy an entry credit score to take part on this contest. Journal of Wildlife Photography membership entries don’t apply to this contest.
You should be the photographer who took the photograph and maintain all rights to the picture.
No illustrations, work, or AI generated pictures allowed.
All semifinalists and finalists shall be required to submit the unique untouched RAW file (for instance ARW, CR2, CR3, DNG, NEF, ORF, PEF) or the unique untouched JPEG file if shot in JPEG inside 72 hours of the request from the judges.
Your photograph doesn’t must be new; nevertheless, we encourage you to get out and create new, recent images.
Birds should be wild and free, unrestrained, and never domesticated or residing in captivity. No baited or staged setups.
Your picture should present real fowl habits: feeding, bathing, preening, courtship, searching, parenting, or one other observable behavioral motion.
Digital changes are permitted offered they don’t deceive the viewer or misrepresent the fact of nature or the picture initially captured by the digital camera. The integrity of the unique scene and topic must be maintained.
Permitted digital changes embody: tone, shade, white stability, and distinction changes; dodging and burning; cropping; leveling; sharpening; noise discount; minor cleansing to take away mud spots or scratches in your digital camera sensor; HDR; stitched panoramas; and photograph stacking if the pictures are taken on the identical location at roughly the identical time as a steady sequence. Masking could also be used to make some or all of those permitted digital changes.
Content alteration of digital recordsdata will not be acceptable. This means no cloning besides cloning to eradicate mud spots or scratches in your digital camera sensor. You might not add, transfer, or take away objects, timber, crops, animals, individuals, or elements thereof, together with filth, backscatter, particles, plant or tree limbs, and comparable parts.
Moderate cropping is allowed. There is not any arduous and quick rule on the quantity of cropping that’s permitted, however some judges will disqualify a picture if it has been cropped greater than 50%.
Moderate leveling of horizon traces is allowed. Some judges will disqualify a picture if it has been leveled greater than 10%.
Moderate changes to tone, shade, distinction, and saturation are permitted. Color and saturation changes which can be so excessive that the ultimate colours are wildly totally different from the unique picture will not be permitted.
The use of AI instruments like these in Topaz Photo AI is permitted for sharpening and noise discount. However, chances are you’ll not use instruments like Topaz Photo AI or Topaz Gigapixel AI to upscale or enlarge photos.
Images should not have a border, watermark, signature, emblem or every other identifiable information.
By coming into the competition, entrants agree that their photos have been taken following our moral wildlife images pointers.
Entrants underneath 18 years of age require the permission of a guardian or guardian.
The Journal of Wildlife Photography won’t retain copyright, possession, or every other rights to your photos. By submitting your pictures, you give JoWP permission to make use of your photos for functions of selling present or future photograph contests through journalofwildlifephotography.com, JoWP.com, our social media platforms, the JoWP journal that includes contest winners and runners-up, and digital electronic mail.
Contacting the judges immediately about a picture submitted to the competition will not be allowed in the course of the contest.
Images which have gained in earlier worldwide or nationwide contests will not be allowed.
Entries are accepted worldwide.
Contest entries are restricted to 500 photographers worldwide. Once 500 entries are reserved, registration will shut.
Submitting a Photo
For the absolute best expertise, we advocate utilizing Google Chrome.
All photographic entries should be submitted electronically. Digital recordsdata should be at the least 1500 pixels and not more than 2000 pixels on the lengthy edge, with decision set to 72 ppi.
Accepted file codecs: jpg or png. Maximum file dimension is 10 MB.
You are anticipated to present your photograph a brief title, most ten phrases.
You might embody a short caption, most 50 phrases, and the title of the precise location the place you photographed your entry, however this isn’t required. If your picture is chosen as a semifinalist or finalist, chances are you’ll be required to offer all of this data.
Contest Details
Opens: April 1, 2026
Closes: June 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time (or when 500 entries are reserved, whichever comes first)
Eligibility: Open worldwide to all wildlife photographers
Theme: Bird Behavior
Entry Limit: 500 photographers most
Prizes
First Place: Winner’s selection of any lens as much as $16,000 retail worth from any producer. Featured choices embody the Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS, Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM, and NIKKOR Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S, however the winner is free to decide on any lens that matches their digital camera system, as much as the $16,000 retail worth cap. Camera physique not included.
Second Place: $1,000 money through PayPal
Third Place: $500 money through PayPal
All money prizes shall be paid out through PayPal inside 30 days of contest shut. The lens grand prize shall be ordered and shipped to the winner immediately from the producer or approved retailer. Winning entries shall be featured within the following situation of the Journal of Wildlife Photography, showcasing the attractive work and tales behind the images.