Bird Photographer of the Year 2020 Winners
‘End of the Day’ 2020 Bird Photographer of the Year winner Majed Alza’abi. European Shag, Vardø, Norway .
Our overall Bird Photographer of the Year winning entry is an impressionistic image of a European Shag taken at Vardø in Norway and is entitled ‘End of the Day’. The image was taken by Majed Alza’abi from Kuwait. Our congratulations go to Majed who wins the top prize of £5,000 and the title ‘Bird Photographer of the Year 2020’. Majed’s image was also the winning image in the Best Portrait category of the competition and for that he wins a pair of Swarovski Optik binoculars.
Scroll below to view all this year’s winning images for the Bird Photographer of the Year Competition, These include all the Gold, Silver and Bronze Category placings; Highly Commended and Commended images; Best portfolio Winner; Inspirational Encounters Award Winner and Young Bird Photographer of the Year winners.
Latest BPOTY book available now!
Inspired by all the amazing winning images? Why not buy the latest Bird Photographer of the Year collection from our highly acclaimed competition series, a book we are sure you will cherish. Featuring all the winning and commended images from the competition, the book is bursting with inspirational photography from all around the world. Visit our shop here to order your copy.
Best Portfolio Award Winner 2020
Congratulations go to Georgina Steytler from Australia who wins our 2020 Best Portfolio Award with this amazing set of images demonstrating consistency of skill and talent. Many thanks go to Olympus who kindly sponsored this award. Please watch Georgina’s video message opposite. All the images in the winning portfolio are displayed below
Our thanks to Swarovski Optik, Alamy, Gitzo and Country Innovation for sponsoring the prizes for our main competition categories.
Attention to Detail
Congratulations go to our Attention to Detail winners who are:
Gold - Moshe Cohen from Israel
Silver - Mathias Putze from Germany
Bronze - Francis De Andrés from Spain
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Best Portrait
Congratulations go to our Best Portrait winners who are:
Gold - Majed Alza’abi from Kuwait
Silver - Greg Lecoeur from France
Bronze - Terje Kolaas from Norway
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Bird Behaviour
Congratulations go to our Bird Behaviour winners who are:
Gold - Roelof Molenaar from the Netherlands
Silver - Greg Lecoeur from France
Bronze - Nicolas Reusens from Sweden
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Birds in the Environment
Congratulations go to our Birds in the Environment winners who are:
Gold - Francesco Filippo Pellegrini from Italy
Silver - Pål Hermansen from Norway
Bronze - Swayamsiddha Mohapatra from India
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Birds in Flight
Congratulations go to our Birds in Flight winners who are:
Gold - Gadi Shmila from Israel
Silver - Nikos Fokas from Greece
Bronze - Shu Qing from China
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Black and White
Congratulations go to our Black and White winners who are:
Gold - Robert Sommer from Germany
Silver - Daniel Stenberg from Sweden
Bronze - Juan Pablo Plaza Pozo from Spain
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Creative Imagery
Congratulations go to our Creative Imagery winners who are:
Gold - James Hudson from the United Kingdom
Silver - Terje Kolaas from Norway
Bronze - Chengbo Sun from China
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Garden and Urban Birds
Congratulations go to our Garden and Urban Birds winners who are:
Gold - Magdaléna Straková from the Czech Republic
Silver - Kiko Arcas from Spain
Bronze - Carlos Cifuentes from Spain
Watch the video messages opposite and view the images in the gallery below.
Inspirational Encounters Award Winner
Congratulations go to Gail Bisson from Canada for winning the Inspirational Encounters Award. This award is sponsored by Wildlife Worldwide and celebrates all that is positive about wildlife and our relationship with it. Entrants were asked to submit a photograph accompanied by approximately 150 words of text to describe how the encounter depicted in the image was inspirational to the photographer. Please read the text that accompanies this image. Please watch the video below for a message from our winner Gail Bisson and from Chris Breen of Wildlife Worldwide
Homecoming
Providence Petrel Pterodroma solandri. Lord Howe Island, Australia.
Gail Bisson, Canada. Category: Inspirational Encounters Award. WINNER.
Years before I became interested in bird photography, I read The Fatal Shore, a book about the colonisation of Australia and its brutal history of convict transportation. In the book, author Robert Hughes discusses the colonisation of Norfolk Island and details the sad fate of its Providence Petrels. The heartbreaking story remained in my mind and heart for years, and I long harboured a wish to someday see a Providence Petrel. A recent trip to Australia allowed me to include a side trip to Lord Howe Island and have my dream realised.
The petrels were called Providence Petrels because they provided the only food available to the transported convicts from England when they landed on Norfolk Island in the late 1700s. The petrels were exterminated on Norfolk Island between 1790 and 1800. One million adults and young were harvested for food from 1790 to 1793, and numbers had dropped to 15,000 by 1796, with complete extermination by 1800. Today, other than a few pairs found nesting on Norfolk Island, and more recently a few pairs on Phillip Island, 99.9 per cent of the world population of Providence Petrels nest on Mt Gower on Lord Howe Island (roughly 32,000 pairs). The species is classed as Vulnerable. Its name is both ironic and heartbreaking, because the presence of humans was hardly ‘providential’ for these petrels. This past winter, Lord Howe Island started a rat-extermination programme. By eliminating the rats it is hoped that petrel numbers will rise to a new high. What a wonderful moment it was to watch the petrels returning at dusk to Mt Gower.
Canon EOS-1D X with Canon EF100–400mm f/4.5–5.6L IS II USM lens. Focal length 135mm; 1/3,200 second; f/6.3; ISO 1,250. Hand-held.
Conservation Documentary Award Winner
Congratulations go to Nick Upton from the United Kingdom for winning our inaugural Conservation Documentary Award with a fabulous entry on the Common Swift Apus apus. This award is sponsored by Gitzo and we announced Nick as the winner earlier this year to coincide with a donation made from Birds on the Brink for the installation of Swift nest boxes in Winchester Cathedral. Please take a look at Nick’s winning entry by clicking the link below.
Young Bird Photographer of the Year
Congratulations go to Adam Lake from the United Kingdom who wins the 14-17 years category and the overall Young Bird Photographer of the Year title for 2020. Please click on the video link opposite to see a message from Adam. Congratulations also go to Our thanks go to 11 year old Ismael Domínguez Gutiérrez from Spain who wins the 9-13 Years category and 7 year old Deeksha Diya Sambath from India who wins the under 9s category. Our thanks go to Swarovski Optik for sponsoring this award.
Category Highly Commended Images
Here are the Highly Commended images for 2020.
Commended Images
The judges have commended the following images which are organised below by category.
