In 1995, Cherry Alexander took the world by storm with her title-winning picture of a stunning blue iceberg in Antarctica. The search for this year's best wildlife photographs will begin on Wednesday 27 March 1996, with the launch of the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 1996.
Amateur and professional photographers are invited to submit their most eye-catching and thought-provoking pictures. The judges - who include wildlife film maker Simon King and wildlife photographer Heather Angel - are looking for photographs which capture on film the beauty, wonder and importance of the natural world.
There are 12 categories to be entered, ranging from 'Wild Places' to 'The World in Our Hands', and 2 special awards; the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife and the Eric Hosking Award for the best portfolio taken by a photographer aged 26 or under.
The junior competition to find the British Gas Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1996 is open to photographers aged 17 and under. There are 3 age categories - 10 years and under, 11 to 14 years old and 15 to 17 years old.
Sir David Attenborough will present the awards to the winning photographers at The Natural History Museum, London, in October 1996. All the winning pictures will be published in a special portfolio in the November issue of BBC WILDLIFE Magazine.
The winning images will also be displayed in a major exhibition at The Natural History Museum in October 1996. Touring exhibitions will visit museums and galleries around the UK - the British Gas Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1995 exhibition is currently on show in Manchester, Banbury and Brighton - and overseas in the USA, Japan, Taiwan, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Australia.
Now celebrating its 13th year, the competition is recognised internationally as the finest of its kind. Organised by The Natural History Museum and BBC WILDLIFE Magazine, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is sponsored by British gas plc for the seventh successive year.
Entry Forms, which contain all the rules and details of entry, are published in the April and May issues of BBC Wildlife Magazine.
Alternatively, you can obtain an Entry Form by e-mailing or faxing your name and address to:
E-mail: K.Watt@nhm.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0) 171 938 8788
Further information is also available from:
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
PO Box 4536
London
SW7 5XA
UK
The closing date for entries is Friday 17 May 1996.
