Winners of the 2018 Bird Photographer of the Year contest

The organizers of the Bird Photographer of the Year competition — the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and Nature Photographers Ltd. (NPL) — recently announced the contest winners for 2018. The contest, now in its third year, attracted thousands of entries form over 60 countries around the globe. As you can see in the following slideshow, Bird Photographer of the Year showcases extraordinary bird photography.

Congratulations go to Pedro Jacques Krebs from Peru who scooped the Bird Photographer of the Year 2018 prize and a cool £5,000 (about $6,500) with his digitally enhanced photograph of American Flamingos. This image, which also won the “Creative Imagery” category, wowed the judges, who felt the picture was both creative and explosive — it really packs a punch.

Younger photographers are not forgotten either. The Cameron Bespolka Trust sponsors the Young Bird Photographer of the Year section of the competition; this year’s winner is Johan Carlberg from Sweden with his sublime image of a Great Crested Grebe.

BPOTY helps raise funds for the BTO, so far having raised over £6,500 (about $8,450) from entry fees alone. The money has been used to help support the BTO’s Young Birders’ Camps aimed at engaging a younger generation of naturalists and ornithologists.

Brian Small, the Los Angeles-based photographer whose photos appear in our “ID Tips” column in every issue of BirdWatching, was one of the judges.

“I had the great pleasure of helping to judge the 2018 Bird Photographer of the Year contest,” Small says. “Judging the contest was truly a labor of love for me. I don’t know that American bird photographers are that familiar with the contest yet, but I can highly recommend they give it a try in future years. The quality and artistry of the images was outstanding and picking winners was a very difficult task. It was wonderful to see the creativity and hard work that I know went into capturing many of these images. Judging the contest was truly inspiring and helped to give me a higher level of quality to strive for in my own bird photography!”

The competition book, published by William Collins, is now available. This lavish 256-page volume showcases the very best imagery from the competition and features the stories behind the images as told by the photographers, plus all the technical camera information.

The 2019 competition is open for entries through November 30, 2018. With eight main categories to enter, and additional special awards, there are plenty of chances to win great prizes. And who knows, you could be the next Bird Photographer of the Year and walk away with the title and £5,000.

Andy Clements, the chief executive of the BTO, says, “I’m really proud to have BTO involved with this project, which has delivered such a positive conservation message, and I simply can’t wait to see the entries for the next competition.”

Click the numbers below to see more of the 2018 winners.

Originally Published September 11, 2018