Every year, hundreds of members enter their stunning alpine-inspired photos into our Photographic Competition.
Why? For the accolade!
…and the icing-on-the-cake cash prizes.
The competition has eight different classes. Our experienced judges review entries and award a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each class. They also choose an overall winner for the entire competition.
Want to know more? Read on!
Class 7 winner 2018: Ursula Junker - View looking east with the mountains Hvalfell and Botnsúlur, Iceland.
There are 8 different competition classes. But! If you’re on form, you can enter up to 3 photos per class.
This means that, if you’re going all out, you could enter as many as 24 of your own photos into just one competition! Talk about maximising your chances of winning. eh?!
Here are the classes you can enter:
For this class, we’re looking to see wild alpine plants in all their glory, set against the backdrop of their natural habitat. The photo you enter should feature both the plant(s) and the landscape in which they’re growing.
This is similar to class 1, except here we’re looking for photographs which feature the entire plant as the main subject. No surrounding landscape is necessary.
This category is for fabulous close-ups, which show just a part of an alpine plant in magnificent detail. For example, you could zoom in on a flower, interesting foliage or a delicate seed head. The plant is your oyster!
The picture can be taken anywhere – in the wild or in cultivation.
We’re looking, here, for photographs of alpines that are being grown in a garden setting.
Don’t worry if you don’t have an extensive collection of beautiful alpines in your borders – the plant can be growing in your own garden or in one you have visited!
In this class we’re looking for photos of stunning alpine gardens (or parts of them) that show features used to grow alpine plants, e.g. troughs, raised beds, crevice gardens, pots, screes and alpine houses.
Alpine plant habitats also have their very own special range of animals! From insects to birds and larger mammals. This competition class is to celebrate them.
Your alpine animal can be photographed in the landscape or in association with plants – completely up to you!
Here we’re looking for photos that capture the breathtaking beauty of alpine plant habitats. Your photo need not show specific alpine plants – the focus should be on the scenic beauty or geology of the setting.
Photos can focus on on the small and intimate right up to the grand panorama.
Got a photo that’ll make us laugh? Do a double-take? Scratch our heads? This class is for you! Any weird and wonderful photo featuring alpine plants goes.
Digital manipulation is allowed in this class. In fact anything goes – let your imagination run riot!
Judges are both current and non-AGS members with artistic and photographic expertise. They judge photos based purely on photographic merit.
This sets the Photographic Competition apart from our Online Flower Show in which it’s the plant in the photo that’s being judged.
This means that a stunning photo of a common-as-muck Sempervivum will do better than a blurry shot of a rare-as-hen’s-teeth Androcymbium burchellii.
Our seasoned judges pick a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in each class. They also select an overall winner.
Winners are given cash prizes to the tune of…
But we also promised you accolade!
Every 1st place entry earns you five points towards an AGS medal, which tally up as follows:
Members who exhibited in the photographic Artistic Section at AGS shows can add these points to their existing Open Section totals.
Fired up? Bet you are!
First, make sure you’re following all our Photographic Competition rules.
Second, make sure your images are digital! We don’t accept print entries for this competition.
Third, make sure your images are big enough. They need to be at least 1200 x 800 pixels (the bigger the better!). (Don’t know how to check this? Have a look at rule 8 on our Competition rules page.)
Fourth, give each of your images a filename which includes, in order:
Separate these with underscores (sorry! Commas can cause us problems). For example:
Finally, send them to us!
The quickest way is to send your pictures using WeTransfer to photographiccompetition@agsgroups.org. This is a free service that enables you to send large files all at once. See the bottom of the Competition rules page for help with using this service.
Please follow this up with an email from your email account, which details:
If you prefer the old-fashioned way, you can post your entries on a memory stick, CD or DVD, along with written details of camera properties, to:
Photographic Competition
Alpine Garden Society
Avon Bank
Pershore
Worcestershire
WR10 3JP
UK
If you’d like your postal entry returned after judging, please include a stamped addressed envelope with your entry.
The competition deadline is 24th December 2020, so get snapping!
Should your photo be selected by our judges, they may need to contact you for more information about your photograph – so be on the look out!
Winners will be told as soon as possible after judging – usually around February.
Winning photos will be celebrated with publication on our channels. For more info, see the ‘Use of Images’ section on our competition rules page.
See some of the winning entries from previous years below to whet your photography appetite!
