Nature photo contest: closed window and rules other organisers set
In short According to the photo contest hub, the Nature Photo Contest of Nature Canada accepted entries between 19 May 2026 and 16 August 2026, a window that had shut months before the Natural History Museum even began taking Wildlife Photographer of the Year entries on 19 October 2026. Entries for the 2026 edition therefore closed long ago, and the window is reported here as closed. For a photographer who missed it, the hub and its companion pages record other contests, their entry routes and their eligibility rules.
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Nature Canada's 2026 window had shut before this article appeared
The hub gave the entry dates for Nature Canada's contest as 19 May and 16 August 2026, and both days had passed by the time this article went out, so the window is reported as closed. Beside those dates, the hub's route note for the same listing reads "Online form, or social post with #NCPhotoContest26". The hub lists no edition of the contest after that one.
The hub listing is where the 2026 window can be checked against the other photography competitions the hub records.
The hub's table lists six photography competitions with their windows and entry status.
Beside the Nature Photo Contest listing, the hub's table records five more photography competitions, each under its organiser's name. While the Black & White Photography Awards from LensCulture stood listed as open for entries, the Natural History Museum's announcement gave the opening time for Wildlife Photographer of the Year as 19 October 2026 at 11.30am GMT. The hub's fourth listing, the National Wildlife Photo Contest, takes a worldwide field from the National Wildlife Federation with no bar below the age of 13.
The table below gathers four of the hub's listings with their windows and status as the hub prints them, so the dates can be read against one another in a single place.
| Contest | Organiser | Window or status | What the pages add |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature Photo Contest | Nature Canada | 19 May 2026 to 16 August 2026 | Online form, or social post with #NCPhotoContest26 |
| Black & White Photography Awards | LensCulture | Open for entries | Open for entries, per the hub |
| Wildlife Photographer of the Year | Natural History Museum | From 11.30am GMT on 19 October 2026 | Museum announcement gave 11.30am GMT on 19 October 2026 |
| National Wildlife Photo Contest | National Wildlife Federation | Accepts photographers worldwide | Age floor of 13 on the rules page |
Entry routes and themes differ between the contests
The clearest route difference is Instagram. The entry page explains that National Geographic's NatGeo100 contest asked each entrant to post the submission there with the contest hashtag while the submission period ran. The Nature Canada listing also accepts a social post with its hashtag, so the route a contest accepts has to be read from its own record.
On subject matter, the art contest page records two positions from Light Space & Time, and the checks below gather what a reader can confirm before planning an entry.
- Check the organiser's own contest page for the current window before planning an entry.
- Choose the route that the listing names, since the NatGeo100 contest required an Instagram post with the contest hashtag during the submission period.
- Fit the subject to the brief before submitting, since the Nature theme at Light Space & Time runs from landscapes and wildlife to natural objects and environments.
- Check the residency clause before entering from Canada, since the contests run by Audubon and by Everyday Heroes each excluded Quebec from their fields.
- Read the file requirements before submitting, because the entry page records technical bars for at least one contest.
Three of the contests in this article name Canada in their eligibility rules.
Nature Canada, Audubon and Everyday Heroes each name Canada in their eligibility rules. The Photography Awards of Audubon, whose 2026 edition ran from January 15, 2026 to March 4, 2026, admitted legal residents of the 50 United States, of the District of Columbia and of Canada, with an age floor of 13 and Quebec outside the field. The rules page sets that field in these words: "legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada excluding Quebec".
The Everyday Heroes contest, on the entry page, restricted entry to people resident in the United States or Canada, with Quebec left out. Both records therefore include entrants from Canada, and Quebec sits outside the field in both.
What the companion pages add beyond these listings
Light Space & Time also ran a companion competition with no theme, open to entries in any subject and any medium. Both records sit on the same art contest page, one beside the other.
On age, the rules page gives the floor for the National Wildlife Federation's 2026 edition, and the hub carries the same bar on the contest's listing: "photographers worldwide who are at least 13 years old". The art contest page also carries a theme that reaches beyond the current year: Bow Seat's Creative Action for Conservation contest names Nature of Truth: Environmentalism in an Age of Disinformation as its 2027 theme.
Questions and answers
Which contest capped how much one person could enter?
Several caps appear among the pages, and one of them is SPIE's limit of two entries per person in its International Day of Light photo contest. The cap comes from the entry page, which records it for SPIE's contest. The entry page words SPIE's limit as a maximum of two entries per person for that contest, and other contests set their own caps.
How large did Audubon's photograph files need to be?
Audubon's technical bar was high: the entry page asked for images of at least 3000 pixels, in RGB mode, and JPG files no heavier than 35 megabytes. The rules page dates the 2026 edition of the Photography Awards from January 15 to March 4, 2026. The technical requirements come from Audubon's rules as the entry page prints them.
What did the Everyday Heroes brief ask an image to show?
The entry page gives the brief in these words: "an image that best represents yourself or others in heroic action". Residency was narrow: only people living in the United States or Canada could enter, and Quebec was excluded from the field. The same entry page sets the brief and the residency rule together for the contest, so a reader can check both what an image had to show and who was allowed to enter before planning a submission.
Which 2027 theme has already been announced?
Bow Seat's Creative Action for Conservation contest carries the 2027 theme Nature of Truth: Environmentalism in an Age of Disinformation, as the art contest page records. The theme belongs to the 2027 edition of the contest, and the art contest page records no other 2027 theme.
Who could enter the National Wildlife Photo Contest?
For the 2026 edition, the rules page sets the field for the National Wildlife Federation's contest at photographers worldwide aged 13 and over, and the hub prints the same bar on the contest's listing. That listing sits beside the Nature Photo Contest on the hub page, so the two windows and fields can be compared in one place.
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For any entry after 16 August 2026, check Nature Canada's own contest page for the dates of the next edition.
Sources
- Photo contest hub: which competitions are open and how to enter · BuyVotesForContest
- How to Enter Photo Contest: Routes, Rules and Voting Steps · BuyVotesForContest
- Photo Contest Rules: Eligibility, Odds, Judging and Disqualification · BuyVotesForContest
- Art contest ideas: what the organisers of drawing and coloring contests ask for · BuyVotesForContest