GDT Nature Photographer of the Year 2026
Our member competition is open to all GDT members!
The submission period for the 2026 competition ends on February 1st, 2026.
We look forward to receiving your entries and are excited to experience the diversity of nature photography through your eyes. Show us your world, share your stories and let's enjoy the beauty of nature together!
Valuable prizes await the overall winners as well as the first and second place winners in each category. The winning pictures will be exhibited for the first time at our membership meeting and then presented at the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation in Bonn. The exhibition will open there with a media-effective vernissage and then move on to the International Nature Photography Festival in Lünen, where a selection of the images will be on display.
All the images will also be published in an extensive photo series in the GDT Forum Naturfotografie magazine and on our website at www.gdtfoto.de. This competition also attracts a great deal of international interest from the public media.
Online participation
Competition rules
You can find the competition rules here.The closing date for entries is February 1, 2026 - 24:00.
Categories
Our competition is divided into seven categories:
- K1 - Birds
- K2 - Mammals
- K3 - Other animals
- K4 - Plants and fungi
- K5 - Landscapes
- K6 - Nature studio
- K7 - Special category: Biodiversity – The Beauty and Significance of Natural Diversity
Judging Panel
Our qualified jury of nature photographers will carefully review the entries and select the top ten works in each category during the main judging.The GDT members will then vote from the jury selection in two rounds: the first round of voting (category rankings) will be online and open to all. For organizational and technical reasons, the second voting round (selection of the overall winner from all category winners) can unfortunately only take place live during the members' meeting.
Silke Hüttche
Silke Hüttche devotes herself primarily to bird photography and usually finds her subjects on her doorstep in the Bergisches Land region and the nearby Ruhr area. Her photographic interests are also very diverse. Her images are particularly characterised by her creative use of blur and light. She also enjoys taking her camera out and about in her hometown of Wuppertal to photograph animals in urban environments. She passes on her knowledge in photography courses for children and in workshops at the Station Natur und Umwelt (Nature and Environment Station) in Wuppertal, among other places. She is also the co-author of two photography books. She is a full member of the German Society for Nature Photography (GDT) and an active member of NABU.
Svenja Schneider
Even before Svenja Schneider took up photography, she loved spending her free time outdoors – whether travelling or at home in South Westphalia. However, since she held her first camera in her hands in 2021, it has become her constant companion. Svenja usually finds inspiration in the nature around her home: the lakes of the Westerwald and the meadows and forests of the Siegerland motivate her time and again to shoulder her camera and set off with her senses sharpened, even in the early hours and despite the typically wet and cold weather. Svenja has been the head of the South Westphalia regional group since 2023 and enjoys interacting with a wide variety of nature photographers in this setting, sharing her experiences and broadening her own photographic horizons.
instagram.com/svenja.ut
Niklas Banowski
Niklas Banowski is a biologist, nature photographer and active conservationist with a focus on amphibians and reptiles. Professionally, he is an environmental auditor, cartographer and active in species conservation. His photography is closely linked to his scientific work. For many years, he has been documenting native species and habitats and the work of conservationists. He consistently combines his images with environmental education and nature conservation and science communication. He has already presented his work on the protection of the fire salamander at the GDT International Nature Photography Festival in Lünen and at National Geographic Germany. He regularly gives lectures at regional nature and species conservation organisations. His aim is to make scientific content visible and to raise awareness of the value of intact ecosystems.
Sponsor
We would like to thank AC-Foto for their generous sponsorship.
