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On the lighter side --- NO POLITICS

The 2020 Audubon Photography Awards: Winners

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2020/the-2020-audubon-photography-awards-winners

This year's top shots delight with dazzling colors and fresh perspectives.

Every spring, the judges of the Audubon Photography Awards gather at Audubon's headquarters in Manhattan to review their favorite images and select the finalists. But as with much of life in 2020, this year's awards had to be handled differently due to pandemic-related travel, work, and social-distancing restrictions. So, for our 11th annual awards, which saw more than 6,000 submissions, the judges assembled in an epic day-long Zoom meeting to winnow down the remaining pool to just the 10 winners and honorable mentions shown here.

As always, the task was simultaneously unenviable and inspiring. The thousands of submissions from nearly 1,800 entrants showed birdlife in all of its splendor. In total, photographers from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 7 Canadian provinces entered images that captured the creativity, wonder, and beauty of species small and large, terrestrial and aquatic.

This year we also continue with two new awards introduced in 2019: The Fisher Prize, which recognizes an image that is as artistic as it is revealing, and the Plants for Birds category, which honors the top photographs illustrating the crucial relationship between native plants and birds.

Our heartfelt congratulations to the photographers behind these stunning shots, and thank you to all of the entrants for your truly remarkable appreciation of birds.

The 2020 APA Judges

Sabine Meyer, photography director, National Audubon Society

Steve Freligh, publisher, Nature’s Best Photography https://www.naturesbestphotography.com/

Melissa Groo, wildlife photographer and winner of the 2015 contest’s Grand Prize https://www.melissagroo.com/

Allen Murabayashi, chairman and co-founder, PhotoShelter

John Rowden, senior director of bird-friendly communities, National Audubon Society

Jason Ward, bird expert and host of “Birds of North America”
https://watch.topic.com/series/AW_R-Fn4HOQWBhNhun3y?_ga=2.107964674.10083368.1593623249-303798912.1593623249

Judging criteria: technical quality, originality, artistic merit