BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition 2025

What in the world have you photographed?

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The 12th annual BigPicture Natural World Photography competition is now open!

BigPicture celebrates and illustrates the rich diversity of life on Earth and inspires action to protect and conserve it through the power of imagery. Enter your finest nature, wildlife, and conservation images for a chance to win a share of $12,300 in cash prizes. Winning photographs will be featured in an exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, which welcomes over one million visitors each year.

Award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas will chair the competition’s panel of esteemed judges: Aishwarya Sridhar, Anthony Ochieng Onyango, Britta Jaschinski, Fernando Faciole, Peter Mather and Sophie Stafford.

Prizes:

The Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000 and the First Place winners of the seven official categories and Photo Story category will each receive $1,000 in cash and also have their winning images featured in the annual exhibit. All winners and finalists will be featured in the Academy's exhibit opening Fall 2025. The People’s Choice winner will receive $300 and have their image featured in an interactive kiosk in the annual exhibit along with all People’s Choice finalists.

Eligibility:

Open to all Photographers Worldwide

Copyrights & Usage Rights:

Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to submitted photographs subject to the following: By entering the Competition, each Entrant grants to the Academy a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, and display submitted images directly relating to the Competition in all media throughout the world in perpetuity. This includes but is not limited to use in the context of the Academy website and social media sites, the exhibition of winning images* at the Academy, and all promotional and marketing materials regarding the Competition and Exhibition. In other circumstances, commercial opportunities may exist for awarded photographers to benefit from the use of their images, such as print sales or merchandise. Where such a commercial benefit is likely to arise, permission will be sought in advance and terms and conditions will be agreed upon with the photographer.

*Winning images include images designated as grand prize, first place, and finalist images.

Theme:

Environmental Landscape Macro/Micro Nature Photojournalism Wildlife