The Schools Photographic Competition is back for 2021!

The Friends have run an annual photographic competition for school and college students for the last 23 years. This is a great way to encourage young people to express their appreciation of Australian native plants through artistic creativity. In doing so, young photographers have an opportunity to explore and enjoy these wonderful Botanic Gardens – the world’s most comprehensive collection of Australian cultivated plants.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of the Gardens earlier this year, the Friends did not hold the competition in 2020. Instead, there was a retrospective exhibition of first-prize-winning entries from the past 23 years on show in November at the ANBG Visitor Centre Gallery.

The competition is back for 2021!

Download the primary schools entry form and secondary schools entry form here. Entries close on Friday 24 September.

To be eligible, all photos must feature some aspect of the Gardens, such as its plants, wildlife, scenery or its community.

For high school and college students, there are three categories in the competition: Monochrome, Colour, and Altered Reality (for images that have been manipulated digitally or in darkroom processing), with 5 prizes in each category.

For primary school students, there are two categories: Monochrome and Colour, with 3 prizes in each category.

As well as the prizes for each category, there will be awards for Commended and Highly Commended entries. There are also two prizes in each category for the schools of the first and second place-getters. As usual, there is a Peoples’ Choice award of $50.

Find out more about the Competition, and view prizewinning entries from previous years.