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To enter the 63rd Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (WPY63), submit your eligible photograph or photographs through the official entry portal by Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 11:30 GMT. The Natural History Museum says entries are judged anonymously in two rounds for originality, narrative and ethical practice; finalists must also be able to verify their images with original files. WPY63 leads to the 2027 awards, so it is separate from the winners announced in 2026. The Museum’s competition page links to the entry route and current rules.
Who can enter WPY63, and which route applies?
Choose between the adult competition and Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year based on the entrant’s age on the closing date, December 3, 2026. The age brackets, entry limits and fees differ; check the full rules for exclusions and any parental or guardian requirements before preparing images. The competition rules are authoritative for eligibility.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match| Route | Age on December 3, 2026 | Submission limit | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult | 18 or older | Up to 25 photographs; a photograph entered in another category uses another place | One-off £35; waived for eligible entrants aged 18–26 and residents of listed qualifying countries who can provide evidence if requested |
| Young WPY | 17 or under: age brackets are 10 and under, 11–14, and 15–17 | Up to 10 photographs in the entrant’s age bracket | Free |
Fees and limits are from the Museum’s WPY63 rules and entry guidance, checked Nov 2026. For the adult fee waiver, confirm that your country appears on the official qualifying-country list; residence in a broad geographic region is not enough to assume eligibility. The Young competition has three age brackets. The Museum’s reference to 19 categories on its overview combines the adult and Young tracks: the adult rules list 16 categories, while Young WPY has three age categories.
How do I enter?
Prepare the files and captions first, then create an account in the official entry portal, pay the applicable fee, upload the entries and save them. The Museum says saving uploaded files in the portal submits them automatically; it is not enough to leave them unsaved as a draft.
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- Read the rules for your route. Confirm age eligibility, category requirements, exclusions and any guardian requirements. Adult submissions may contain up to 25 photographs overall; Young entrants may submit up to 10 in their age bracket.
- Choose categories to fit the image or story. Adult entrants can submit single photographs and, in the relevant categories, multi-image submissions. Photojournalist Story, Rising Star and Portfolio entries use sets of 6–10 images within the overall adult limit. Age conditions apply to Rising Star and Portfolio. If you enter the same photograph in more than one category, each placement counts toward the limit.
- Check capture date, subject and provenance. The competition overview says photographs must have been taken on or after November 1, 2021; the binding adult and Young rules describe the cutoff as captured after October 2021. Keep evidence of the capture date. Eligible subjects include wild animals, plants, fungi, landscapes and habitats under the rules. Pets, farm animals and cultivated plants or fungi are excluded. Captive or manipulated animals are generally not eligible, subject to a narrowly stated exception for truthful reporting on a third party’s treatment of animals.
- Prepare an anonymous submission JPEG. Upload a high-quality JPEG in Adobe RGB (1998), with the longest edge at 1,920 pixels. Do not add a border, signature or watermark. Remove your name from the image, caption and owner, copyright or creator metadata so the entry remains anonymous during judging.
- Write a factual caption. Keep it to no more than 2,500 characters. Explain what is happening and why it matters, describe relevant behaviour and background, and give the precise location and capture year. Include the scientific name where possible; do not put your name in the caption.
- Create the portal entry, upload and save. Follow the entry page’s prompts, pay if required, and save each uploaded file to submit it. You can add, delete or change images in the portal until the deadline. Late entries are not accepted.
Use the Museum’s prepare-to-enter guidance for the submission specifications and portal instructions. The overview and detailed rules differ slightly in how they express the image-date cutoff, so the safest course is to meet the stricter wording, retain capture-date evidence and consult the binding rules for your competition route.
What do the judges assess?
The Museum identifies three criteria: originality, narrative and ethical practice. Entries are considered anonymously in two rounds. That means a striking frame is not enough on its own: the image needs to offer a distinctive view, communicate something meaningful and have been made in a way consistent with the competition’s standards.
Originality and narrative
Originality concerns the distinctiveness of the photograph, while narrative concerns what the image communicates about its subject or situation. The caption is an opportunity to provide factual context—such as behaviour, location and background—not to identify the entrant. The Museum says judges strongly favour images that have not previously won awards in similar international contests. This is a stated preference, not a blanket ban on every photograph that has previously been published or entered elsewhere.
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Ethical practice
Ethics can make an otherwise compelling image ineligible. The rules prohibit baiting or luring wildlife with food, feeders, scent or sound, and generally prohibit interfering with a natural situation. They also rule out distressing or injuring an animal, damaging habitat, distressing lighting, dangerously low or noisy drone use, and photographing at a nest or den with a wide-angle lens. The rules specify a limited exception for documentation of scientific field research; read its conditions rather than treating it as general permission to intervene. Follow applicable laws and obtain required permits.
When a photograph’s circumstances might be questioned, be ready to explain them accurately. A dramatic result does not override the requirement to follow the rules, and a misleading caption or missing provenance can undermine an entry even if the image itself is visually strong.
What edits are allowed?
Adjustments are permitted only while the image continues to represent the photographed scene honestly. The rules allow tone and contrast adjustments, cropping, sharpening, noise reduction and minor cleaning of sensor dust. HDR and image stacking are subject to the rules’ specific authenticity and capture constraints, so do not assume that every multi-frame technique qualifies.
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Do not add, move or remove scene elements, create composites, paint out backgrounds, or submit AI-generated images or use AI methods that add new image content. The distinction between cleaning sensor dust and removing real-world marks matters: the rules allow minor removal of dust on the sensor, not the removal of dirt, bubbles or backscatter that were actually present in the photographed scene. If an edit might change what the viewer understands to have been there, treat it as prohibited unless the rules clearly permit it.
Why should finalists keep original files?
Finalists are asked to provide original camera RAW files or untouched JPEGs, or original transparencies or negatives where applicable. The Museum may also request surrounding untouched JPEG frames to assess adjustments. Keep the original capture files and, where available, related frames from the same sequence; an edited export by itself is not proof of authenticity.
Finalists must also supply a full-resolution, print-ready file, preferably an 8-bit Adobe RGB TIFF that matches the submitted crop and colour. A converted DNG does not count as an original unless DNG is the camera’s native RAW format. The Museum describes an exception for extracting embedded original RAW data. If requested originals cannot be supplied, the entry is withdrawn. Keep the files in their original form and make a separate working copy for edits; the contest does not prescribe a particular storage device.
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When are WPY63 results announced?
The Museum schedules first-round results for January 22, 2027, and final decisions for March 12, 2027. These are the published WPY63 dates; check the official competition page for any updates after entry. The Museum’s published 2026–27 prize list states that the adult grand-title winner receives £15,000 on top of the category prize. See the awards and prizes page for the complete prize information.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →For scale, the Museum reported 65,403 entries from 121 countries and territories for the competition whose winners it announced in October 2026. That is a historical figure for the preceding competition, not an estimate or entry count for WPY63.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should you choose a category or submission format?
Start with the photograph’s subject or story, then check whether a single image or a permitted image set best fits the category. For a multi-image category, the sequence should work as a coherent submission rather than simply use the maximum number of slots. The rules allow the jury to move an adult entry to an appropriate category, but do not rely on that possibility instead of reading category descriptions.
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Do not treat camera cost as a proxy for judging merit. The Museum notes that smartphone photographs have received awards. An entry’s eligibility, clarity of narrative, originality and ethical provenance matter more to this competition’s stated criteria than the price of the camera used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I enter a wildlife photo that has already been published?
The Museum’s stated preference concerns images that have not previously won awards in similar international competitions. Its guidance does not describe every previously published photograph as automatically barred, so check the current rules and answer any questions about an image’s history truthfully.
Can the judges move my image into a different category?
The adult rules allow the jury to move an entry into an appropriate category. That discretion does not guarantee a transfer, and it does not remove the need to select a suitable category when submitting.
Does a smartphone photo have a chance of winning?
Yes. The Museum says smartphone photographs have received awards, so camera type alone is not a reason to rule out an otherwise eligible image.
Does every shortlisted image compete for the grand title?
No. The Museum says the category winners are considered for the relevant adult or Young grand title. For an adult multi-image winning entry, one selected photograph from the set may be considered.
