Get up close to creepy crawlies & become Bug Photographer of the Year!

By Chris George
published

Buglife Bug Photography Awards 2021 has £21,000 worth of prizes up for grabs - but you just have a week left to enter

Bug Photography Awards 2020
Mofeed Abu Shalwa, was crowned Bug Photographer of the Year in the inaugural contest in 2020 for this shot of a ‘Red palm weevil’ (Image credit: Mofeed Abu Shalwa)

Have you got an eye for bugs? Or do you like hunting for creepy crawlies with your macro lens? Then this photography competition could be just the thing to give you the recognition you deserve. 

Now in its second year, the Bug Photography Awards 2021 are being organized by Photocrowd with a prize pot up for grabs of £21,000 (over $29,000). The competition will raise funds for inverterbrate conservation at the same time through wildlife charity Buglife.

There are nine different categories that you can enter, covering all the main types of bugs that you could aim your camera at. They are:

• Arachids
• Beetles
• Butterflies & moths
• Dragonflies & mayflies
• Flies, bees, ants & wasps
• Snails & slugs
• Extreme close-ups
• Bug homes
• All other bugs

A carder bee, shot by Jamie Spensley, won the Young Bug Photographer of the Year 2020. The focus-stacked shot was composited from 41 separate image. (Image credit: Jamie Spensley)

This shot by Lung-Tsai Wang of a Lynx Spider (Oxyopidae) with its young was the winner in the ‘Arachnids’ category last year.  (Image credit: Lung-Tsai )

The ‘Extreme Close-Up’ category winner from last year. (Image credit: Riyad Hamzi)

The runners up spot in the ‘Beetles’ category last year went to this menacing shot by Martijn Nugteren of a stag beetle behind an oak leaf.  (Image credit: Martijn Nugteren)

The grand prize and the title of Bug Photographer of the Year will be judged on the basis of five images submitted by the photographer in these categories. The winner will get £2500 in cash, plus a range of other goodies.

Additionally there will be a Young Bug Photographer of the Year, that will be free to enter, and which will be awarded to photographers aged between 13 to 17.

Judges include Germain Greer, broadcaster Nick Baker, nature photographer Ross Hoddinott, Springwatch's Gillian Burke, and DCW's Chris George.

The competition is open now, with entries closing on 05 September. For full details and how to enter see the Bug Photography Awards website. 

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Chris George
Chris George

Chris George has worked on Digital Camera World since its launch in 2017. He has been writing about photography, mobile phones, video making and technology for over 30 years – and has edited numerous magazines including PhotoPlus, N-Photo, Digital Camera, Video Camera, and Professional Photography. 


His first serious camera was the iconic Olympus OM10, with which he won the title of Young Photographer of the Year - long before the advent of autofocus and memory cards. Today he uses a Nikon D800, a Fujifilm X-T1, a Sony A7, and his iPhone 11 Pro.


He has written about technology for countless publications and websites including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Daily Telegraph, Dorling Kindersley, What Cellphone, T3 and Techradar.

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