2023 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards winners

Announcing the winners of the 2023 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards.

View the winners gallery here.

BirdLife Australia is thrilled to announce the winners of the sixth annual BirdLife Australia Photography Awards.

The BirdLife Australia Photography Awards see thousands of entries every year from photographers of all ages and experiences – including some of Australia’s finest. After much deliberation, our judges have decided the nine winners of each category from a shortlist of 68 photos.

The winning photos are both a celebration of Australia’s spectacular and diverse birdlife and a powerful statement – and we hope they will inspire more people to connect with, care about and protect birds and nature.

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation, the winners will share in a prize pool of thousands of dollars. But photographers aren’t the only winners in the competition – funds raised through entry fees support BirdLife Australia’s bird conservation work. This year, proceeds will go to our Birds on Farms project in central west NSW – helping landholders protect, restore and revegetate threatened woodland bird habitat on their properties.

“This year, we have had over 6,000 entries – which is outstanding,” says Tim Van Leeuwen,  President of Birdlife Photography.

“Since 2018, the BirdLife Australia Photography Awards have allowed BirdLife Photography to donate $65,000 to support special projects run by BirdLife Australia for the benefit of our wonderful Australian birds. Congratulations to our winners – your images are spectacular.”

The Photography Awards are a collaboration between BirdLife Australia and BirdLife Photography. One of BirdLife Australia’s special interest groups, BirdLife Photography welcomes all bird lovers with a passion for photography. With an extensive public online photo gallery of Australian birds, BirdLife Photography promotes ethical bird photography and aims to inspire and support photographers of Australian birds.

Thank you to Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation for sponsoring the 2023 Photography Awards, and to the judges of this year’s competition.