October 2023

Wildlife Photo Contest Winners

Theme: "Backyard Wildlife"

Below are the winners and runners-up of our monthly wildlife photo contest. Thanks to all who entered and congratulations to our winners.
Click each image to view full screen.

Advanced Category Winner

“Close Encounter” By: Heather Kiesel

Advanced Category Runners-up

“LOL, Just Pulling your Feather” By: Glenn Nelson
“Camera Shy” By: Dawn Nicholas

Beginner Category Winner

“She is Like the Wind” By: Kalyanpuranand Anand

Beginner Category Runners-up

“The Wood Duck Surrounded by Fall Colors” By: Regent St Hilaire
“Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher” By: Amit Satiya

Meet The Judges

Ruth Hoyt

Ruth is a full-time professional nature photographer, writer, public speaker, workshop leader, coach, and consultant with 30+ years’ experience teaching nature photography.

She enthusiastically works with photographers from all skill levels, ages, and walks of life, including youths from 8-18 years, US Veterans, artists’ groups, people with disabilities, and other specialized groups.

Ruth writes for the Journal of Wildlife Photography and manages its monthly photo contest.

A Certified Interpretive Guide and Certified Texas Master Naturalist, Ruth is best known for her Texas bird and wildlife photography and professional guiding services on private south Texas ranches, Costa Rica, and numerous other locations.

Georgina Steytler

Australian photographer Georgina Steytler has worked on various conservation projects and taught the art and ethics of nature photography through workshops, talks and articles. She has won numerous awards, including Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Bird Photographer of the Year and the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.

Georgina has judged several major wildlife photography competitions and in November 2021, Australian Geographic published her first book, For the Love of Birds. She released her follow-up book, For the Love of Flora, last month.

She currently lives in Albany, Western Australia, with her husband and beautiful Belgian shepherd.

Bill Jaynes

Bill owns and manages the Jaynes Gallery in association with Danita Delimont Stock Photography, which has more than 48,000 photos from photographers under contract with him.

For years, Bill Jaynes managed Inner Reflections, an engagement calendar of superlative nature photos that set the standard for nature photography. Bill judged the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) for two years and did portfolio reviews for five years at the annual conference. At one Summit, NANPA honored Bill by naming him a Fellow “…for outstanding contributions to the field of nature photography.”