Northumberland, Durham and Tees Valley Wildlife Trusts have joined forces with the Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) and the Great North Museum: Hancock to launch a brand new photography competition.
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The competition is now closed for entries (submission deadline was 31 January 2013). All winners and runners-up will be showcased at the Great North Museum: Hancock and on tour around the region.
Competition categories.jpg)
A maximum of five images can be entered, which must be captured in the north-east of England. Entrants must state which competition category they are entering and can submit more than one image per category.
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Wildlife portraits - photos that capture the character, essence or traits of a species
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Wildlife behaviour - photos that capture interesting, funny or amazing behaviour
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Wildlife in the landscape - photos that show wildlife in its habitat, landscape or setting
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Botanical - photos of plants, fungi and lichens
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Young person's - photos of flora and fauna taken by anyone aged 16 or under
Prizes
The competition is open to amateur and professional photographers of all ages, with some wonderful prizes on offer:
Overall Winner
£250 and Opticron IS 60 ED digiscoping kit for DSLR cameras (comprising IS 60 scope, 17x eyepiece, photoadaptor and T-mount, worth £450)
Young Person's category
1st prize: Opticron Savanna WP 8x30 binocular (worth £99) and a bespoke photography workshop for 2 (1 child and an adult), valued at £200, courtesy of Northern Experience Wildlife Tours.
Runner-up prize: Savanna ’54 8x23 compact binocular (worth £79)
Other Prizes
Hawk's Head Photography kindly offered three wildlife photography workshop prizes for our competition winners (each valued between £70 - £80). Adult winners will receive a workshop on 'Farne Islands Puffins and Seabirds - Wildlife Behaviour and Wildlife Portraits', and the Young Person's winner will take part in a 'Birds of Prey' workshop.
Birdwatching Magazine donated a subscription to their best-selling bird magazine, with all the latest bird news, expert binocular and spotting scope reviews, birding events local to you, competitions and lots of great offers.
Naturetrek (Birdwatching, botanical and natural history holidays) donated a £250 voucher to spend on one of their wildlife breaks.
Speyside Wildlife donated 4 places for an evening of wildlife-watching at their baited hide, on the Rothiemurchus Estate on the outskirts of Aviemore, Inverness-shire. The visit usually lasts 2-3 hours, and often includes sightings of pine marten, badger and deer.
Immediate Media Company offered a one-year subscription to BBC Wildlife Magazine (13 issues)
West Country Wildlife Photography Centre offered a one-day wildlife photography trip at their farm in Devon.
Each category winner and runner-up will also receive a prize and certificate. The winner and runner-up images are displayed in the Galleria at the Great North Museum: Hancock.
Submissions
All photographs, whether submitted in a digital or printed format, should include details of the category the image is to be included in, where the photograph was taken, the entrant's name, contact telephone number and address. Entries into the Young Person's category must also include the date of birth of the photographer.
Low resolution images (with size specified) should be emailed to northeastwildlifephoto@gmail.com
Printed photographs should be posted to:
Steve Ashton
North East Wildlife Photography Competition
Tees Valley Wildlife Trust
Margrove Heritage Centre
Boosbeck
Saltburn
TS12 3BZ
Entrants agree that the organisers and sponsor can provide images to the media for reproduction in connection with the competition and exhibition only. The organisers and sponsor will make a reasonable effort to ensure that name credits are given to any photograph published in any medium but we cannot guarantee this. Please download our guidelines for entering and digitally enhancing photographs.
Terms and conditions
Please click to view our 'Terms and Conditions' and 'guidelines for entering and digitally enhancing photographs' (also available to download as pdf documents).
Organisers/sponsors
We would like to thank Nestlé for sponsoring the competition and Opticron, Hawk’s Head Photography Workshops and Bird Watching Magazine for donating great prizes. A special thank you goes to Newcastle College for turning the winning photographs into canvases.
Sponsored by: 
Nestlé is a Global Nutrition, Health and Wellness Company that cares deeply about sustainability and believes in creating greater value for our people, our shareholders and society as a whole. At Nestlé Fawdon, we recognise the need to pursue manufacturing in ways that protect the planet and its resources for future generations. After working closely with NWT in 2011, Fawdon Factory (situated on the outskirts of Newcastle) established a wildflower butterfly meadow that was planted by our employees and their families to encourage indigenous wildlife and butterflies to return to the site. This year we have enjoyed seeing the meadow continue to develop and establish itself. We are also very pleased to continue our partnership with the Trust as we work on the challenge of improving biodiversity around our site. Nestlé Fawdon is proud and delighted to sponsor this exciting North East Wildlife Photography Competition; it is a fantastic opportunity to view, appreciate and capture in photo our local wildlife. We look forward to viewing the entries, and for more information on Nestlé please visit www.nestle.co.uk/csv
Prizes donated by/supporters of the competition:
Hawk's Head Photography is a wildlife photography workshop specialist based in the north east of England. Its range of bespoke workshops offer advice, practical tips and encouragement for all levels of ability and include the Farne Islands seabirds and seals, birds of prey, whooper swans and red kites in SW Scotland, wetlands wildlife and waterfalls in Northumberland. For more information on Hawk's Head Photography please visit www.hawksheadphotography.com
We would especially like to thank Kaleel Zibe and Alan Hewitt from Hawk’s Head Photography Workshops. As well as offering great prizes their photography expertise has helped us to devise the competition and they have agreed to help judge the images that are entered.
Northern Experience Wildlife Tours offer guided birdwatching, wildlife and photography day trips, tuition and package holidays, for everyone young and old from beginner to expert, based in and around Northumberland, the North Pennines and the Scottish Borders. NEWT are a corporate member of NWT and are the only wildlife tour operator in England to hold a Green Tourism Business Scheme GOLD Award for their commitment to the environment and sustainable tourism. For more information on Northern Experience Wildlife Tours please visit www.newtltd.co.uk
Organisers: 
(North East Wildlife Trusts comprise Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Durham Wildlife Trust and Tees Valley Wildlife Trust).
Rabbit © Jack Bucknall, Kingfisher © John Taylor, Fox © Leslie Holburn, Butterfly © Kevin Murray, Anemone © Dorothy Powell