2026 Audubon Nature Photography Contest winners announced

Western New York and northwest Pennsylvania were represented among the winners and honorable mentions in Audubon Community Nature Center's 2026 Nature Photography Contest.

Youth and adult photographers from 31 different states as well as Croatia, France, Great Britain, India, Italy and Taiwan submitted entries to this year's contest. Without knowing the names or hometowns of the photographers, judges reviewed all the contest entries to determine the Adult (ages 19 and older) and Youth (ages 8 to 18) judged winners and honorable mentions in the categories of:

– ACNC Outdoors, featuring photographs celebrating the beauty found among the trails, wetlands, and forests at Audubon Community Nature Center.

– Close-ups that celebrate the beauty of the "small stuff" that often goes unnoticed.

– Wildlife in Action, which is all about movement, behavior, and the pulse of life, showing animals doing what they do best.

Winners in the Adult categories were, for ACNC Outdoors, "Morning Star" by D. Arlene Bonnett of Jamestown, N.Y., for Close-ups: "Feeding Time for Palla's Nectar Bat" by Gayle Dana of Truckee, Calif.; and for Wildlife in Action, "Close Flight" by Paolo Barbarini of Busto Arsizio, Italy. Youth winners were "Born With A Silver Spoon" by Matthew Strauss of Moorestown, N.J., for Close-ups and "Bobcat Blur" by Leo Dale of Sonoma, Calif., for Wildlife in Action.

Judged winners received $200 cash prizes, and their photographs will be on display at the Nature Center.

Adult ACNC Outdoors Honorable Mentions were:

– "Early Morning" by Ashley Lookenhouse of Russell, Pa.

– "Autumn Wood" by Karen Christy of Jamestown.

– "You Don't See Me" by Jim Pierce of Warren, Pa.

Receiving Honorable Mentions in the Adult Close-Ups category were:

– "Grasshopper on Leaf" by Michael Weishan of Cattaraugus.

– "Silk and Pearls" by Joe Riederer of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.

– "Deadly Mating" by Edmund Stush of Fairview, Pa.

Adult Wildlife in Action Honorable Mentions went to:

– "An Infinitesimal Facet" by Jenny Clark of Fountain Hills, Ariz.

– "Stellar's Sea Eagles Fighting" by Gayle Dana of Truckee, Calif.

– "On The Nest" by Jeremy Martin of Friendship, N.Y.

Youth Close-ups that received Honorable Mentions were:

– "Stone and Silk" by Maximus Brown of Cherry Hill, N.J.

– "The Fox Didn't Say" by Annabelle Gray of Seward, Neb.

– "Perch" by Ishaan Inamdar of Naperville, Ill.

Honorable Mentions for Youth Wildlife in Action went to:

– "Quack Attack!" by Leah Hurlbut of Woodside, Calif.

– "The Release" by Matthew Strauss of Moorestown, N.J.

– "One Kill, A Thousand Witnesses" by Pranav Pula of Hyderabad, India.

Community Choice winners were those that received the most votes on the contest website. Each also received a $200 cash prize. "Lunch on the Run," entered in Wildlife in Action by Caroline Adair of Norman, Okla., was the Youth Community Choice winner. Also in Wildlife in Action, "The Prowl," by Jamie Alcala of Celebration, Fla., took the honors for Adults.

Money raised from the Nature Photography Contest help support the nearly 1,000 nature education programs the Audubon Community Nature Center ACNC offers annually throughout both New York's Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties and Warren County in Pennsylvania.

Details of the competition and images of these and additional entries can be found at AudubonCNC.org/Photo-Contest. Background on the judges, Sandra Rothenberg and Mark Evans, both of Warren, Pa., is under "About" on the 2026 Contest Judges page.