RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2023
- Published
The RSPCA Young Photographer Awards celebrate the amazing talents of young people aged 18 and under. This striking close-up image of Frederick the pet turkey was taken by eight-year-old Jamie through the bars of his pen. She explained: "I wanted to show the beauty of his feathers with their iridescent shine, which he loves to display during spring and summer." The picture was declared the Overall Winner of the competition.
Jamie also won the Pet Portraits prize for this picture titled "Curious George" of a horse she spotted and photographed on the moorland near her home. Jamie said: "There was a herd of horses up there grazing as the sun was setting and I noticed this particular one watching me with a certain curiosity, as though he was wondering what it was that I was holding."
There were more than 6,500 entries for this year's competition. The Small World category was won by 14-year-old Beau with this picture of a baby curlyhair tarantula. Beau explained they wanted to highlight how beautiful and misunderstood these gentle and amazing creatures are.
The runner-up in the Small World category was also of a spider - a sun jumping one. Seventeen-year-old Joshua spotted this arthropod with his googly-looking eyes on a fence post. Did you know - it's one of the rarest jumping spiders in Britain and it seems like patience was the key to this photo,. Joshua said that he managed a few hundred images which led him to capture lots of detail on the spider.
"Green-eyed beauty" was taken by 12-year-old Eilidh. The picture is of her grandad's cat Squeaker and was one of the commended photos in the Pet Portraits category. One day, Eilidh saw Squeaker poking her head around the corner and she looked really cute so she borrowed her mum's phone to take a picture. Simply paw-fect!
The Pet Personalities category runner-up was awarded to 17-year-old Thomas for his photo titled "Companions for Life". Thomas says the picture is of his brother and their dog Maxie, who are inseparable. He added that he wanted to capture the moment to show the "unconditional love and companionship between child and dog".
Sometimes award-winning photos can be completely unplanned! Seventeen-year-old James scooped the top prize in the 16-18 category with his picture of a whitethroat with a beak full of insects but it turns out that wasn't what he had initially been hoping to capture. James explained that he wanted to photograph some barn owls but spotted this hungry little bird as the sun began to set.
And finally, this picture of a green-eyed bee hovering over a yellow flower was taken by 11-year-old Jack and caused quite the buzz in the Under 12 category. Jack used a macro lens to get up and close with the insect to bring out the sharp detail as it flew off. "I was amazed to see all the pollen on its face and I like the contrast of yellows and green," he said.