SNAP DRAGONS

with the SUNDAY TIMES WILDERNESS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE YEAR COMPETITION | 2016

Enter this year’s wilderness photography competition to win the lion’s share of prizes

Cast a spotlight on our glorious but threatened planet and win R600 000 in luxury safaris, gear and prize money. Brought to you by Sunday Times Travel, Canon and Wilderness Safaris

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

This is South Africa’s premier competition for global nature photography. So our expert panel will be on the lookout for photos that tell a memorable story about the planet’s fragile wilderness ecosystem in all its drama and splendour. We will reward images that display exceptional artistic value and technical proficiency, a powerful composition and that all-important X-factor.

CATEGORIES

Endangered Africa This category will recognise photos that celebrate rare or endangered African nature. Photos can highlight the beauty of what we stand to lose, the importance of any rare or endangered wild landscape, fauna or flora; or the heartbreak of nature in peril. Photos of any free-roaming wildlife, urban or rural, may be entered. Photos of captive wildlife will only be considered where these skilfully highlight conservation threats.

Wildlife Behaviour

Photos that observe the extraordinary and often secret lives of creatures anywhere on earth, from Antarctica’s leopard seals to the microscopic creatures in suburban gardens.

‘VOTE AND WIN’ IN OUR PUBLIC CHOICE AWARD

We’ll put the top 10 photos (five from each category) on the Sunday Times Facebook page once a month. Vote for your favourite and you could win cash, and a place for your favourite photo in 2016’s top 15.

WINNERS

Starting May 29, we’ll name each category winner on the last Sunday of the month. The monthly Public Choice winner and randomly drawn voter will be announced on the Sunday Times Facebook page towards the end of each month. The overall 2016 winner and runner-up will be announced in Sunday Times Travel in December.

MONTHLY PRIZES

The monthly Endangered Africa and Wildlife Behaviour winners will each receive R2 000 cash. One Facebook voter will win R1 000. Seven Public Choice winners from May to November will earn bragging rights — and the possibility of a place in 2016’s top 15. All cash prizes courtesy of Sunday Times Travel.

OVERALL PRIZES IN 2016

First prize — worth R370 000 A six-night luxury adventure for two in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Linyanti region worth R300 000, courtesy of Wilderness Safaris.

Top Canon gear worth R70 000, featuring an EOS 5D Mark III camera with a 24mm105mm lens, an EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lens and an EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens. Runner-up prize — worth R183 000 A four-night luxury safari for two guests in Hwange, Zimbabwe, and on the Zambezi, Zambia, worth R150 000, from Wilderness Safaris; plus Canon gear worth R33 000: an EOS 7D Mark II camera with 18mm-135mm lens and EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens.

GONE IN A BLINK: Regionally extinct in Burundi, Gambia and Mauritania, the fabled African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is threatened by poaching and habitat loss. Photo by James Kydd, the overall runner-up in 2015

PHOTOGRAPHER’S PALETTE: The Okavango Delta is one of Africa’s most important wildlife sanctuaries, and a network of water channels that flows more than 1 000km from the source. It’s also where this year’s winner will go — with Wilderness Safaris