DENVER, CO, UNITED STATES, 17th Sept 2024- Canadian landscape and nature photographer Andrew Mielzynski wins the 2024 Natural Landscape Photography Awards, the first international photography competition of its kind.
On winning the competition, Mr. Mielzynski had this to say, “I am overwhelmed, amazed, excited and deeply honored to win the Natural Landscape Photography Award’s Photographer of the year award for 2024. The Natural Landscape Photography Awards are one of the biggest landscape competitions in the world, with a full range of categories that compliment many different genres in the landscape photography world. This contest is extremely prestigious and important for photographers who love traditional photography and who reject digital manipulation and AI. Their Golden Rule is that ‘The integrity of the subject should maintained’ and to this end they ask for the original image to be submitted for inspection. Thank you to the founders and organizers of the competition for all their hard work, to the tireless and world class judges, the sponsors and to all my incredibly talented and dedicated fellow winners and photographic artists that entered this fabulous contest. I am very proud, thrilled and appreciative to be included in this group of very talented photographers.”
Now in its fourth year, the competition was created in 2021 by landscape photographers – Tim Parkin, Matt Payne, Alex Nail, and Rajesh Jyothiswaran to promote the best landscape and nature photography by digital and film photographers who value realism and authenticity in their work.
The competition established essential rules to avoid deceptive digital editing techniques and the use of artificial intelligence that have become commonplace in landscape photography. The results are a fantastic showcase of the photographers involved and the true wonder of the landscape in a way that people can trust. The organizers checked every RAW file from submitted photographs that made it to the final judging phase for compliance with the competition’s rules.
● 12,179 photographs were submitted to the competition from 59 countries by 1,134 photographers.
● Five leaders and world-class photographers were chosen as judges, including two from the United States and one each from Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
● A comprehensive, transparent, and fair judging process was utilized.
● Photographers entered their work into three distinctive categories: Grand Scenic, Intimate Landscapes, and Abstract & Details.
● A unique “Project” section was created for the competition, through which photographers could submit 6-10 images that relate to one another in some way.
● Ten “Special Awards” were awarded based on sub-themes within the landscape photography genre, including Creative Icon, Environmental Wildlife, Common Places, Mountains, Water Worlds, Black and White, Nightscape, Environmental, and Aerial.
● The photographer with the collection of the highest-ranked images was awarded the $5,000 Photographer of the Year prize.
● In 2024, the competition organizers established a $5,000 grant program to help photographers under the age of 30 work on an environmental photography project. This award was given to Danish photographer Anders Thøstesen for his proposed project, “Flying Rivers,” which aims to visualize the concept of the Amazon’s Flying Rivers and the indirect consequences of deforestation.
● Over $25,000 in prizes was distributed to competition winners, including $14,500 in cash, FLM Tripods, subscriptions to Nature Photographer’s Network, and over 100 copies of our perennial fine art coffee table book, which showcases the tremendous work of the photographers who submitted their images to the competition.
We thank our partners, FLM Tripods, Nature Photographer’s Network, and B&H Photo for supporting the competition!