After receiving a record number of entries this year, we have announced the winners of our annual photography competition 2019.
You can see all of the winning photographs from Belfast Zoo’s annual photographic competition 2019 including a full list of our winners and runners up here.
Our annual competition, now in its 36th year, is sponsored by Jessops and Phil Smyth Photography. It challenges budding and amateur photographers to creatively photograph animals and scenes around the zoo, capturing the wonder of nature while exhibiting high quality skills and a great eye for a ‘zooper’ photo.
2019 welcomed a record 950 entries for the popular competition. Winners will receive a variety of prizes including cash prizes, canvas prints, zoo memberships, zoo goodie bags and photography courses.
Alyn Cairns, Zoo Manager, said:
Belfast Zoo’s annual photographic competition continues to grow in both popularity and quality each year. We are very grateful to our generous sponsors for their continued support of this competition. We are absolutely thrilled to receive a record number of entries in 2019, almost 200 more than we received last year. I would like to thank everyone who entered the 2019 competition. The entries we received this year were incredibly diverse, capturing many of our 120 species in the zoo, including our most endangered animals. Photography has a unique ability to engage with people and we hope the winning photographs empower people to support wildlife conservation.
Susan Allardyce, Jessops, said: “Jessops was delighted to continue its support of the zoo’s annual photographic competition. The competition provides an ideal opportunity for beginner and amateur photographers to focus on developing their skills in a unique setting. We offered a range of beginner photography courses in the zoo over the year to help educate and inspire budding wildlife photographers. From the high number and quality of entries received this year, it seems that we certainly achieved that!”
Phil Smyth, owner of Phil Smyth Photography, said:
It is a pleasure to be involved in the zoo’s annual photographic competition. Capturing live and moving subjects such as wildlife takes a lot of skill, technique and often patience, however these qualities were clearly demonstrated throughout many of the entries. The judging process was somewhat difficult due to the high level of creative talent shown in the entries, however the winners are well deserved and I look forward to seeing more of their photographic work in future.
We hope you find a ‘flash’ of inspiration to enter our 2020 competition!