BSBI Photographic Competition

BSBI Photographic Competition 2024

The categories in 2024 are:

  • Intrepid: finding plants in wild places
  • Inquisitive: up close with diagnostic features
  • Inclusive: sharing plants with others

The categories are based on our organisational values, that we hope are shared by our members and supporters.

Enter now

Full details of the competition rules can be found here. We welcome entries across the year, with the winners to be chosen in the autumn. Prize-winners receive book tokens from Summerfield Books, and we'd like to thank them for their ongoing support of the Photo Competition.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2023

The categories in 2023 were:

  • Plants in the Landscape - our winner was Bert Barnett, with an image of Yellow Mountain Saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides) in Fisherfield
  • Plants and People - our winner was Philippa Swann, with an image of Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica), taken in Perthshire.

Congratulations to both of them!

The winners of the 2023 Photo Competition were chosen from short-listed entries and announced live at the Scottish Botanists' Conference on 4th November. Prize-winners receive book tokens from Summerfield Books, and we'd like to thank them for their ongoing support of the Photo Competition. Categories for the 2024 competition will be announced on this page in due course.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2022

The four categories in 2022 were Flowers in the Four Seasons: winter, spring, summer & autumn. Our winners were Alwyn Craven, with a picture of Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium), and Gillian Elsom, with three fantastic photos of  Wood-sorrel (Oxalis acetosa), Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera) & Autumn Lady's-tresses (Spiranthes spiralis).

BSBI Photographic Competition 2021

We had three winners in 2021; one in the Native plants category - Olesya Smart with her stunning Moss Campion (Silene acaulis) in Ross photograph and two joint winners in the Alien plants category: Roy Sexton with Pitcherplant (Sarracenia purpurea) on Rannoch Moor and Liz Downey's Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus), Portland.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2020

The winners of the 2020 BSBI Photographic Competition were ‘Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum), Fife’ in the Native plants category by Alison Davies and ‘Canary Grass (Phalaris canariensis) at Port William, Wigtownshire’ in the Alien plants category by Alan Wake.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2019

At the 2019 BSBI Photographic Competition, the winner in the Native plants category was “Marsh Cinquefoil (Comarum palustris), Millport” by Heather Kelly and the winner in the Alien plants category was “Borage (Borago officinalis), Colyton”, by Boots Hackman.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2018

The winner in the Plants & People 2018 category was “Learning from Mum - Hannah's meadow, Teesdale” by Heather Kelly and the winner in the Plants & Pollinators category was “Argogorytes wasp on Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera), Wakerley Wood, Northamptonshire” by Pete Stroh.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2017

The winners of the 2017 BSBI Photographic Competition were Chris Jeffree whose photograph of Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) at Lindisfarne was the most popular in the ‘Archaeophyte’ category and Heather Kelly whose photograph of Greater Knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa) on the Fife coast won the ‘Plants in the Landscape’ category.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2016

In 2016, the winner of the ‘Rare Species’ category was Norwegian Mugwort (Artemisia norvegica) on Cul Mor by Simon Harrap and the winner of the ‘Common Species’ category was Tall Bog Sedge (Carex magellanica) in Mid-Perthshire by Bill Boyd.

BSBI Photographic Competition 2015

In 2015, we had four categories, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The winners were:

Spring: Great Horsetail Equisetum telmateia at Pease Dean Woods by Sarah Eno.

Summer: "Hanging around" by Cathy McKirdy.

Autumn: Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare seedhead by Ian Strachan.

Winter: Teasel Dipsacus fullonum, Dinnet, by Ian Francis.

Marsh Cinquefoil (Comarum palustris) by Heather Kelly.Photo Comp winner