RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2024 open for entries - with two brand new categories

If you know a budding young photographer with a passion for nature and animals, now’s their time to shine.

The 2024 RSPCA Young Photographer Awards have now opened for entries, until 15 August. Each year thousands of up-and-coming photographers 18 and under enter the competition, hosted by wildlife presenter and RSPCA president Chris Packham, with the RSPCA vowing this year’s contest will be “bigger and better than ever” to celebrate the charity’s 200th anniversary.

To celebrate, it has created two brand new categories to align with its 'For Every Kind' campaign. The RSPCA hopes young photographers will be able to use them to showcase how everyone can create a better world, for every kind of animal.

Here’s what you need to know about the new categories, and how the young photographers in your life can enter their snaps:

About the new categories

The two new categories for this year are ‘Better World’, showing animals living their best lives or portraying what a better world for animals looks like, and ‘City Life’ - which highlights how animals and nature exist all around us, and showing how we can live harmoniously together.

The ‘Better World’ category should feature photos of animals exhibiting their natural behaviours - showing off their rich, emotional lives and unique personalities. At the same time, the picture should demonstrate what a better world for animals could look like. The RSPCA says examples could include:

• A cow running through a field

• Fox cubs playing

• A pet rabbit “binkying” with friends

• A hedgehog peeking out of a hole in the fence made to let them safely cross the garden

• Birds at a bird feeder

• Bugs in a bug house

Next up, ‘City Life’ will feature photos of animals who have ventured into towns and cities, sharing our urban spaces with us. The aim of these photos is to show animals living alongside or interacting with manmade objects, like pavements, buildings, railings, traffic lights and more. These pictures can be artistic, funny, or awe-inspiring, the charity says, but the aim is to get people thinking about the relationship between animals and spaces designed for humans. Examples could include:

• A fox standing by a graffiti-covered wall

• A pigeon nesting on top of a corner shop

• A squirrel scavenging in a bin

• A bird landing on the one tree in the area

• Chickens at a city farm

“Photography is such a powerful tool in communicating how all animals have unique personalities and their own feelings and emotions,” RSPCA chief executive Chris Sherwood said. “The Young Photographer Awards is a key part of our role in inspiring everyone to create a better world for every kind of animal.”

He continued: “Animals are now facing some of the biggest threats in our history, from climate change to intensive farming, from the cost of living to the effects of the pandemic. We want to see a future where all animals are treated with kindness and respect which is why our two new categories help people rethink their relationship with animals, from the fox that visits our gardens, to a cow in a field, to the cat on our lap or the dog by our sides, we want to show how every animal is important.”

How to enter

If you’re 18 or under, you can submit any of your photos capturing the animal kingdom on a camera or mobile device (such as a cell phone) on the RSPCA website, here. You can enter until midday on Thursday, 15 August.

Here is the full list of categories for 2024: Under 12 mobile; 12-15 mobile; 16-18 mobile; Under 12; 12-15; 16-18’ Better World; City Life; Small World; Pet Personalities; Pet Portraits; and Portfolio. You are allowed to enter more than one.

This year’s awards will be judged by a panel of expert wildlife photographers. Winners in each category will be awarded trophies and a special prizes at a ceremony at the Tower of London, in December.