Wilderness Photographer of the Year 2026 - Terms And Conditions

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 2024. If EXIF data indicates an image was captured before 1 January 2024 it may be disqualified.

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

4. You 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 2023, 2024 or 2025 are not eligible to win Wilderness Photographer of the Year 2026.

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 2025 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, montages, 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 bush, person or powerline, or adding a tree, or a new sky 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), CAA (NZ) and FAA (USA), specific local rules may also apply, for example applying to the operation of RPAs in national parks or around wildlife.

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 18 October 2026 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 2027. Winners, Runners-up and Top 10 entries in each category will be published in the February-March 2027 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 Intrepid Travel 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 Intrepid Travel websites.

40. Intrepid travel prize. The winner will receive two (2) places on the Hike Queensland’s Scenic Rim Trail trip with Intrepid Travel. This trip consists of: Four (4) nights accommodation, guided hiking with an experienced leader, meals as outlined in the itinerary and all inclusions specified on the Intrepid Travel trip page. Flights, transfers to or from the trip start/end point, travel insurance and any additional expenses outside the standard trip inclusions are not included in the prize. The estimated total value of the prize is approximately $6,000 AUD. This prize must be redeemed against a new booking by 11:59pm AEST on 18 February 2027 and is available for travel departing before 11:59pm AEST on 18 October 2027. The winner must contact Intrepid Travel (sales@intrepidtravel.com | 1300 255 485) directly to book the prize, quoting the details provided at the time of winning. A minimum of four (4) travellers must be confirmed on the Intrepid Travel trip for the prize winner’s booking to be confirmed on their requested departure date. This prize is provided on a twin-share basis and is subject to availability and confirmation by Intrepid Travel at the time of booking. Any request to change to a different Intrepid Travel trip is at the discretion of Intrepid Travel and is not guaranteed. If the selected departure does not operate for any reason or the trip is discontinued, Intrepid Travel will offer an alternative Australian walking trip of equal value to the prize winner. This prize applies to the land element of the trip only and cannot be redeemed against flights, additional accommodation, transfers, travel insurance, single supplement payments, optional activities, spending money or transport to and from the departure location unless otherwise stated in the trip itinerary. The prize is non-transferable, non-refundable and not redeemable for cash. Travel is subject to Intrepid Travel’s standard Booking Conditions available at: https://www.intrepidtravel.com/booking-intrepid/booking-conditions

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.