Photographic Competition for Students

The Friends have run an annual photographic competition for school and college students for over two decades. It 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.

The competition is open to students attending Australian primary or secondary schools or colleges. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to become aware of the value and beauty of the ANBG and, by exercising their photographic skills, to share that beauty with other visitors.

The impact of COVID-19 led to the Friends suspending the competition between 2020 and 2023. In 2020 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 Friends were delighted to run the Competition again in 2024, and look forward to the 2025 event.

25^th Photographic Competition for students

The competition will be open to students in Years 3 to 12 at Australian primary or secondary schools or colleges.

All entries must be digital photographs, taken by the student in the ANBG between 30 August 2024 and 30 August 2025, and featuring some aspect of the Gardens such as plants, wildlife or scenery. The photographs must be in jpg format, with a maximum size of 10MB. The prize-winning images will be printed by the organisers at A3 size, and should have sufficient resolution to be clear at that size.

Entries will be submitted online through the competition's entry form, which will open on Tuesday 1 July 2025. Entries must be received by the organisers before 5pm on Friday 29th August 2025. We recommend submitting entries in plenty of time to avoid any possible congestion on the closing date.

See the full details of the 2025 competition's entry categories, prizes and conditions.

2024 competition winners

In 2024 a total of 205 photographs were entered by 88 students, from 6 primary schools and 11 high schools or secondary colleges.

Prizes were awarded to the winners on Saturday 28 September by Neville Page, President of the Friends of the ANBG; Dr Rebecca Pirzl, Branch Head Science and ANBG, DCCEEW; and Graham Gall, the Judges Leader from the Friends ANBG Photographic Group.

Categories: Primary Colour • Primary Monochrome • Secondary Monochrome • Secondary Colour • Secondary Altered Reality

Click on an image to see a larger version of the photograph.