RULES

ELIGIBILITY

1. Great Walks Wilderness Photographer of the Year is open to citizens and residents of Australia and New Zealand. For the purposes of this competition, a resident is defined as a person who has lived in Australia or New Zealand for at least six months at the time of entering this competition. To be eligible to receive a prize you must have an Australian or New Zealand mailing address.

2. Images must have been captured on or after 1 January 2023. If EXIF data indicates an image was captured before 1 January 2022 it may be disqualified.

3. Images previously entered in Wilderness Photographer of the Year are not eligible to win a prize.

4. An entrant may enter more than one category. Multiple entries within a category are also permitted.

5. An image, or a similar version of that image, that has been a Winner or Runner-Up in any of the following Yaffa Media photo competitions – Australasia's Top Emerging Photographers, Photographer of the Year, The Landscape Awards, The Mono Awards or The Capture Awards – will not be eligible to be a Winner or Runner-Up in Wilderness Photographer of the Year.

6. Category winners of Wilderness Photographer of the Year 2022, 2023 or 2024 are not eligible to win Wilderness Photographer of the Year 2025.

7. All elements must have been photographed by the entrant and images submitted must be 100% photographic in origin. The use of stock images, clip art or generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is forbidden.

8. Employees of Yaffa Media Pty Ltd and employees of the sponsors of Wilderness Photographer of the Year are not eligible to win a prize.

9. Freelance writers/photographers who have been paid to contribute to Great Walks since 1 July 2024 are not eligible to win a prize.

WILDERNESS DEFINITION

10. For the purposes of this competition, Wilderness is defined as a natural environment that has not been significantly modified by human activity. However, images that show the effects of human impact on the environment are eligible for the competition, in the context of illustrating the fragility or resilience of the natural world.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

15. This is a photography competition and, as such, any entered images must have been entirely captured with a camera (digital, film or phone camera). Images created or edited using generative artificial intelligence (AI) may not be entered. The use of AI noise reduction and sharpening technology is allowed, as long as the integrity of the original photographic image is maintained. Organisers reserve the right to request original image files, including Raw files, to confirm integrity of the original photographic image. Failure to supply original image files may result in disqualification.

DIGITAL MANIPULATION

16. Adjustments may be made to cropping, noise, colour saturation, sharpness, shadows, highlights and contrast. Dodging and burning (selective lightening and darkening of different areas in the image) is also allowed.

17. Images must be single capture, not composites, with the following exceptions: Stitched panoramas, focus stacks, and HDR images are allowed. In these cases, the component images must be captured in the same location and within a 12-hour period. Double exposures created in camera are allowed. Double exposures created in post-production are not allowed. Other composite images, including diptychs, triptychs, motages, etc are not allowed.

18. Cloning of dust spots and scratches is allowed. Cloning to change the reality of a scene, for example removing a powerline, or adding a tree, is not allowed.

19. Simple perspective correction, to remove lens distortions, is permitted.

20. Competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify an image if they feel it lacks authenticity due to over-manipulation. The organisers reserve the right to request original unedited image files, including RAW files. Failure to supply original image files may result in disqualification.

DRONE PHOTOGRAPHY

21. Wilderness Photographer of the Year supports the safe and legal operation of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), including drones. All entries captured with an RPA must comply with local rules and regulations. Any images suspected of being captured illegally will be disqualified. In order to be eligible for a prize, entrants must be able to provide verifiable EXIF data including drone type, position (latitude and longitude), and altitude information. Competition organisers reserve the right to disqualify any image they suspect may have been captured illegally. As well as aviation regulations imposed by national regulators such as CASA (Australia) and CAA (NZ), specific rules also apply to the operation of RPAs in national parks.

DRONES AND WHALES

22. Due to the difficulty of assessing the legality of images of this type, aerial images of whales captured by drone are not eligible to be entered in the competition.

COPYRIGHT

23. Entrants retain copyright of their images. By entering the competition, the entrant provides Great Walks, Wilderness Photographer of the Year and their partners, a limited-use authorisation to distribute and publish entered photos for the sole purpose of promoting Wilderness Photographer of the Year. Images will be credited with the name of the photographer when used in any publicity for the competition.

24. The entrant must be the creator of all elements in their submitted images. Any post-production and editing must be the work of the entrant.

IMAGE REQUIREMENTS

25. Image format: Images should be in JPEG (.jpg) format.

26. Image dimensions: Images should be at least 2,500 pixels on the longest edge.

27. Image file size: Individual images must be no larger than 5MB.

28. Images should not include watermarks or other branding. The competition organiser reserves the right to disqualify any entry with a watermark or other branding.

ENTRY PRICING

29. Entry pricing is in Australian Dollars (AUD). Entry price is per entry. Entry pricing is listed here.

CLOSING DATE

30. Closing date for entries is Sunday 26 October 2025 at 11.59pm (AEST).

JUDGING

31. Entries will be shortlisted by the staff of Great Walks, published by Yaffa Media (ABN 54 002 699 354), 17-21 Bellevue Street, Surry Hills, NSW.

32. A panel of photographers will judge the shortlisted entries and vote to determine a winner in each category.

33. In the event of a tie for first or second place, the relevant images will be returned to the judges for an additional round of voting.

34. Judges' decisions are final and no further correspondence will be entered into.

WINNERS' ANNOUNCEMENT

35. Winners and Runners-up will be announced on www.greatwalks.com.au in February 2025. Winners, Runners-up and Top 10 entries in each category will be published in the February-March 2025 edition of Great Walks magazine.

36. Winners, Runners-up, Top 10, Top 20, Highly Commended and Commended entrants will also receive a PDF certificate via email.

PRIZES

37. Prize money is in Australian dollars (AUD).

38. Prizes are subject to availability, not transferable or exchangeable and cannot be taken as cash. If a prize is unavailable, the competition organiser reserves the right to substitute the prize with a prize of similar value or specification.

39. Life's an Adventure and Inspiration Outdoors prizes do not include flights, airport transfers or travel insurance. For more detail about inclusions and terms and conditions relating to these tours please refer to Life's an Adventure and Inspiration Outdoors websites.

GENERAL

40. Entry fees are non-refundable.

41. The entrant indemnifies Yaffa Media Pty Ltd (ABN 54 002 699 354) against any claim, legal or otherwise, that may arise out of the publication of images.

43. Yaffa Media Pty Ltd reserves the right to disqualify any entry deemed to be in breach of these Terms and Conditions.

44. By entering images into this competition the entrant guarantees to Yaffa Media Pty Ltd that all of the above Terms and Conditions have been met. Any entry found to breach the above Terms and Conditions will be disqualified and all prize money and product prizes must be returned to Yaffa Media Pty Ltd.

45. The information in these terms and conditions supersedes information in other parts of this website.

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