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UnderwaterPhoto Contests
JudgingHas UW category · Online

Nature Photographer of the Year

Nature Photographer of the Year 2026 · by Nature Talks (opens in a new tab)

Entries closed

Judging in progress

  • Closed 08 JUN
  • Fee from €17.50
  • UW cat. 1 of 9
  • Prizes €25K
Add to calendar Official site (opens in a new tab) Rules (opens in a new tab)

Netherlands-based international nature photography contest run alongside the Nature Talks Photo Festival, open to amateurs and professionals, with a dedicated Underwater category for salt- and freshwater subjects.

Key dates

  1. Entries open

  2. Early-bird ends

  3. Final deadline

Entry fees

Entry options and prices
Standard entry (categories C1–C11, up to 20 images)EARLY BIRD€32
Standard entry (categories C1–C11, up to 20 images)€35
Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award entryEARLY BIRD€16
Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award entry€17.50

Free for: Youth category (C12) for entrants under 18 at the deadline

Prizes

€25,000approx. total value

€3,000 for the overall Nature Photographer of the Year

  • cash

Each category winner receives €500 and the Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award winner €1,000. A listing site (Deartline) adds that runners-up in several categories receive product prizes worth about €250.

Which category to enter

This is a general contest. Underwater work belongs in this category:

  • Underwater (C6)

    Open

    Underwater images of plants, animals and scenes in salt or fresh water; one of eleven single-image categories (C1–C11).

    Restriction: Each image may be entered in only one category (the portfolio award excepted); black-and-white images are accepted.

Other categories (8)

Birds · Mammals · Landscapes · Human and Nature · Black and White · Nature Art · Youth (C12) · Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award (C13)

Who can enter

Open to
Open to all
Entry limit
20 per person

Open worldwide to professional and non-professional photographers; the 20-image cap applies to standard entries across C1–C11. Youth entrants must be under 18 at the deadline.

Rules at a glance

Not summarised yet — check the official rules.

Your image rights

Standard licence

You keep copyright. Nature Talks may use entries without payment to market the contest and the Nature Talks Photo Festival (including future editions) with your name credited, and may show your image in the festival's digital show unless you opt out by email. Finalist and winning images can be exhibited and printed for five years, and these rights can be passed to printers, websites and media covering the contest.

Licence
Contest promotion only
Duration
Limited (Finalist and award-winning images may be exhibited and reproduced in print for 5 years; promotional use can extend to future editions of the contest and festival.)
Credit promised
Yes
How "Standard licence" is decided
  • Read carefully: the entrant grants an exclusive licence or transfers rights, or the organiser may use entries commercially (sell, license, use in paid products).
  • Photographer-friendly: use is limited to promoting the contest, there is no commercial use by the organiser, and credit is promised.
  • Standard: everything in between — typically a broad non-exclusive licence for marketing without commercial resale.

This is our plain-language summary, not legal advice. Read the official terms before entering: official rules & terms (opens in a new tab).

Research notes

Entry is closed and results are pending. The Nature Talks festival page lists the Nature Talks Photo Festival on 14 November 2026, where 2025 winners were revealed, but no 2026 results date was confirmed. The early-bird end date (27 April) comes from the Deartline listing; the official rules give the discounted prices but no date. Deartline also mentions an original 2 June deadline later moved to 8 June; the official rules state 8 June. Only some category names were confirmed (the official list numbers eleven single-image categories plus youth and portfolio). Direct page fetches were blocked in this research session, so pages were read through search-engine extracts.

Provenance

Verified · 5 sources

  1. Rules NPOTY 2026 (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  2. NPOTY terms (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  3. NPOTY 2026 contest page (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  4. Nature Talks Photo Festival (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15
  5. NPOTY 2026 listing (Deartline) (opens in a new tab) · accessed 2026-10-15

All editions

  1. Nature Photographer of the Year 2027≈ early Jun 2027Expected
  2. Nature Photographer of the Year 2026closed Mon 8 Jun 2026Judging
  3. Nature Photographer of the Year 2025closed Sun 18 May 2025Results out Results (opens in a new tab)