Formerly known as the Jack Pine Warbler Cover Photo Contest, the Michigan Audubon Photography Awards is a revamped photography extravaganza featuring new categories and increased ways for your photographs to help raise awareness about birds and the habitats they depend on in the state of Michigan.
In addition to the JPW Cover Photo category, we have established a new Youth category so that our budding photographers of the natural world from ages 13 through 17 can compete amongst their peers. We have also added a Volunteering for Birds category to showcase how people can take action for birds in their communities and backyards throughout Michigan.
Over the years, the Jack Pine Warbler, Michigan Audubon’s quarterly membership magazine, has featured the work of a host of amazing photographers from across the Great Lakes and abroad. With our new photography awards, Michigan Audubon continues our commitment to photographic excellence with this publication and extends it to our educational outreach materials such as brochures, websites, social media, and more.
Winners of each category, as well as three honorable mentions, will be announced on July 1, 2020.
You must enter your submission in our 2020 Michigan Audubon Photography Awards by June 1, 2020. To enter, please fill out our online form and attach up to three digital photo files. If entering separate categories, you must fill out two separate forms. If you have questions, please email Communications & Marketing Coordinator Molly Keenan at mkeenan@michiganaudubon.org.
Photographs may not be larger than 5 MB in size and must be submitted in .jpg format. Please be sure to include a caption of what it is, the location where it was taken, the date it was taken, and the photographer’s name with your submissions. All photographs must be captured in Michigan. Minor digital enhancements for cropping, filters, and corrective functions are permitted, but images that have been judged to be significantly altered will not be used.
The photographer retains full copyright to their images. However, participation in the contest requires the contestant to give Michigan Audubon permission to use the photographs without compensation on the cover of the Jack Pine Warbler as well as for Michigan Audubon websites, social media, and printed materials. Michigan Audubon will always include the photographer’s name when using a photograph for any purpose.
As always, Michigan Audubon requests that all photographers follow ethical practices when photographing birds and other wildlife. For more information, please review Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography.
Division Categories
JPW Cover Photo: You must be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission
Youth: You must be 13 to 17 years of age at the time of submission
Volunteering for Birds: You must be 13 years of age or older at the time of submission and your photograph must include people conducting volunteer work for birds including stewardship, native gardens, giving educational presentations, leading bird walks, monitoring roosts and nest boxes, etc.
Prizes
JPW Cover Photo: The winner’s photo will be featured on the cover of the Jack Pine Warbler sometime between July 2020 and June 2021. The winning photographer will be featured on the Michigan Audubon website with a link to their photography website (if applicable). The winner and those awarded honorable mentions will have the opportunity to do a weeklong Michigan Audubon Instagram takeover to share their photography with thousands of followers.
Youth: The winner’s photo will be featured in the JPW and on the Michigan Audubon website. The winner and those awarded honorable mentions will have the opportunity to do a weeklong Michigan Audubon Instagram takeover to share their photography with thousands of followers.
Volunteering for Birds: The winner’s photo will be featured in the JPW and on the Michigan Audubon website. The winner and those awarded honorable mentions will have the opportunity to do a daylong Michigan Audubon Instagram takeover to share their volunteer story with thousands of followers.
Rules
Up to three photos will be accepted from each entrant per category.
All photos must be accompanied by a caption, location, date, and photographer’s name. Please name your file using the following format: title_date-taken_photographer-name.jpg (Sandhill-Crane_1.1.2020_firstname-lastname.jpg).
Entries must be photos taken in the state of Michigan. If it is determined that a photograph was taken outside of the state, it will be disqualified.
All entries must be submitted as high-resolution digital prints in .jpg format and should be capable of being enlarged while retaining printable quality. Please limit file size to 5 MB or less.
Limited alterations of photographs are allowed, including:
- removal of dust spots and reduction of image noise
- minor adjustments to color, white balance, tone, lighting levels and curves, shadows and highlights, saturation, contrast, and sharpness
- moderate dodging and burning
No digitally signed or watermarked photos will be accepted.
Any photo featuring a person must have been submitted with their permission. Any subjects under 18 must have written permission from a guardian for publishing purposes.
All entrants irrevocably grant Michigan Audubon a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use their submitted photographs in any manner related to the contest and Michigan Audubon, including all associated use, reproduction, distribution, sublicense, derivative works, and commercial and non-commercial exploitation rights in any and all media now known or hereafter invented, including, but not limited to the Jack Pine Warbler magazine, blogs, slideshows, brochures, newsletters, articles, reports, calendars, publications, social media posts, physical and digital galleries, and exhibition of submissions.