Eye On Nature, RTÉ’s annual wildlife photography competition, is open for entries

Irish wildlife photos wanted!

Eye On Nature, RTÉ’s annual wildlife photography competition, is open for entries

Closing date for entries Wednesday 22nd March 2023

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Eye on Nature, RTÉ’s wildlife photography competition, has launched on RTÉ One’s Nationwide in association with Mooney Goes Wild on RTÉ Radio 1, the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the National Botanic Gardens.

For the third year, RTÉ’s Eye on Nature will give wildlife photographers across Ireland the opportunity to showcase their immense talent and highlight Ireland’s biodiversity and the beauty of the natural world around us. Both amateur and professional photographers are welcome to enter photographs of landscapes, flora and fauna in the competition for a chance to win a cash prize of €1,000 and all finalists in the competition will be included in an exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens.

Last year’s winner (pictured) was a strikingly beautiful photo of a Red Squirrel (Iora rua, Sciurus vulgaris) taken by Jimmy Mc Donnell from Newcastle in County Wicklow.

Presenter Anne Cassin will launch Eye on Nature on RTÉ One’s Nationwide tonight, Wednesday 15th February at 7pm, from the National Botanic Gardens. She will interview all three of the judges and will have all the details of this year’s competition. Eye on Nature is part of Nationwide’s 30th anniversary celebrations.

Director of National Botanic Gardens of Ireland Dr Matthew Jebb returns as a judge for the third year of Eye on Nature. He will be joined on the judging panel by Niall Hatch from Birdwatch Ireland and award-winning nature-photographer Sheena Jolley.

Mooney Goes Wild on RTÉ Radio 1 (Monday nights at 10pm) is the radio home of the competition and will feature interviews with all three judges in the lead up to the competition deadline on Wednesday 22nd March. On RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, Nationwide will present stories connected to Eye on Nature every Wednesday for six weeks showcasing the biodiversity, Irish landscapes and the natural world on these shores.

Dr Matthew Jebb said: “I’m delighted once again for the OPW and the Botanic Gardens to partner with RTÉ for Eye on Nature. The outdoor exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens has been a fantastic way to showcase the finalists in a truly unique way, and once again we will be touring these to other OPW sites during the summer at Portumna House and Gardens and Athenry Castle. To date the winners of the competition have all been photographs of animals, this year as a judge I’d love to see some amazing shots of the plants and flowers from the Irish landscape.”

Irish award-winning nature photographer Sheena Jolley said: “This competition is a great opportunity to submit your images and showcase our rich natural heritage focusing not only on the detail of its beauty but also on the thrill of observing your subject in its natural landscape. I am so looking forward to seeing the work of Ireland’s talented photographers, viewing the stories that their images tell and giving them the opportunity to communicate more awareness of our natural biodiversity and so promote its conservation.”

BirdWatch Ireland’s Niall Hatch said: “I am delighted to be one of the judges for this fantastic competition, which shines a very welcome spotlight on the beauty of Ireland’s world-class natural heritage. The standard of entries over the past two years has been extraordinarily high, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the photographs that we receive this time around. I tend to favour images which capture the natural behaviours and habitats of wild creatures and, most importantly of all, ones where there has been no disturbance and everything looks as natural as possible. The welfare of the subject must always come first, as far as I am concerned.”

The closing date for entries to Eye on Nature is midnight on Wednesday 22nd March 2023.

Entries can be submitted to www.rte.ie/eyeonnature where full details along with Terms and Conditions will be found.

A shortlist of twelve photographs will be included in an exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens this summer and the winner will be announced on RTÉ’s Nationwide. An online gallery will also be available.