Thursday, 1 October 2026
BirdLife Australia and BirdLife Photography are thrilled to announce the winners of the ninth annual BirdLife Australia Photography Awards.
This year’s competition saw over 5,000 entries from across the country, among the highest number of entries in the history of the Awards. After much deliberation, the judges have decided the nine winners for each category from their shortlist of finalists.
Showcasing the creative flair and technical skill of some of Australia’s best bird photographers, the winning entries are both a celebration of our 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. Congratulations to this year’s winners!
View the 2026 Winners Gallery at our official competition website
This year, NSW-based photographer Lachlan Hall was awarded the grand prize and crowned BirdLife Australia Photographer of the Year for his breathtaking underwater shot of King Penguins at Macquarie Island, a subantarctic island halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica. His photo, entitled Kings Down Under, is a spectacular portrait of seabirds in motion.
“On land, where we usually get to see penguins, they are awkward and clumsy,” Lachlan says. “So, I wanted to capture the Kings of Macquarie where nature has designed them to be – flying through the ocean, swift and graceful.”
“The beautiful scenery, the vibrant colours…the well-established focal point and an incredible sense of urgency and dynamism make this image jump off the page,” says Competition Coordinator Tim Van Leeuwen.
“There’s always a degree of subjectivity in art, but there was no debate that this is a truly great image – and one that we felt was a worthy winner among a strong cast of other images.”
Each year, organisers decide on a new Special Theme category to showcase a specific bird group or family. This year’s theme is Australian finches: a celebration of some of Australia’s smallest and most striking birds. The winning image by Stephen Garth, entitled Bold, depicts one of our most widespread and iconic finch species, the Zebra Finch.
Other category winners include Elmar Akhmetov, whose portrait of Superb Lyrebird courtship wowed the judges and took out the Bird Behaviour category, and Samara Achermann’s Portfolio Prize-winning photo series of Australian Fairy Tern behaviour.
Each winner will receive $1,000 in prize money, thanks to the generous support of our event sponsors Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation.
The winner of the Portfolio Prize will receive a $2,000 cash prize, while the BirdLife Australia Photographer of the Year winner will receive the Grand Prize, a Nikon Z 8 camera valued at $7,449 RRP – both courtesy of Principal Sponsor, Nikon Australia.
But photographers aren’t the only winners in the competition – funds raised through entry fees support BirdLife Australia’s critical bird conservation work, helping protect some of our most threatened birds and their habitats.
A huge thank you to those who made the 2026 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards competition possible, especially the all-star judging panel, Competition Coordinator Tim Van Leeuwen and event sponsors Nikon Australia and Lake Cowal Foundation.
The BirdLife Australia Photography Awards are a partnership 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. For just $15 a year, members can access forums, competitions, e-news and other useful resources to help develop their photography skills.
Find out more and become a BirdLife Photography member today.
BirdLife Australia Media Enquiries: Please contact James Johnson on 0423 659 324 or at media@birdlife.org.au
BirdLife Australia and BirdLife Photography are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 BirdLife Australia Photography Awards.
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