The South Okanagan Naturalists’ Club invites regional amateur photographers to submit their photos of the beauty, landscapes, flowers and wildlife of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen to the club’s inagural photography contest.
“The club has launched the Focus on Nature photo contest to encourage photographers to capture the natural beauty that surrounds us in the region and to increase awareness of the different landscapes and many species of animals, flowers, insects, birds and water-based life that live in the area,” said Bob Handfield, president of the South Okanagan Naturalists’ Club.
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More than $4,000 in prizes is up for grabs for winning photos in the following categories: waterfowl, other birds, landscapes – natural landscapes, fauna – wild animals, flora – wildflowers and plants of all types and invasive species.
The photographs must be taken within the boundaries of the RDOS by amateur photographers who live within the RDOS. The RDOS stretches from Manning Park in the west to Anarchist Mountain in the east and from the U.S. border in the south to near Peachland in the north.
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The contest runs from March 1 to July 15. A panel of three distinguished judges will review the submissions in each category and select the winners. The judges are: Mark Brett, photojournalist and reporter with Penticton Western News; Cathy Pires, long-time photographer and manager of the Penticton London Drugs Photo Lab and Caillum Smith, full-time professional photographer and proprietor of Preserved Light Photography in Naramata.
Prizes include merchandise, gift cards, Parks Canada passes, cash and a $900 pair of binoculars. The prizes will be awarded at a gala at the Penticton Museum in September when the winning photographs will be unveiled and placed on display until December.
For more information, including contest rules, and to submit photos to the contest, visit the contest page: South Okanagan Naturalists’ website https://southokanagannature.com/2018-photo-contest/.