The Winning Images from the Audubon Photography Awards 2022

The National Audubon Society has revealed the winners of its thirteenth annual Audubon Photography Awards. The highlighted photos show the beauty of birds and the joy of capturing them in their environments through photos and videos.
This year, judges awarded eight prizes across five divisions from a pool of 2,416 entrants from all 50 states, Washington D.C., and seven Canadian provinces and territories. The organization says it decided to continue to award the Female Bird Prize and Video Prize, which were successfully introduced last year.
The Female Bird Prize highlights female birds, which are often overlooked and underappreciated in bird photography and conservation. The Video Prize recognizes the dynamic movement and behavior of birds and the ways we view and memorialize them.
All photos and videos are judged by the 2022 panel for technical quality, originality, and artistic merit. All photographs must also follow Audubon’s Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography.
The grand prize winner receives $5,000 and the remaining category winners receive anywhere between $1,000 and $2,500 except for the Youth division, whose winner receives six days at the Audubon’s Hog Island Audubon Camp during the 2023 season.
In addition, all award winners and honorable mentions will be featured in the Summer 2022 issue of Audubon magazine and will also travel the country as part of an Audubon Photography Awards exhibit, where they will be on display at 28 venues in 19 states — including many Audubon nature centers — between October 2022 and June 2023.
Grand Prize Photo
The grand prize photo, above, was awarded to photographer Jack Shi from Costa Mesa, California for his photo of a large, mostly white White-tailed Kite as it hovers mid-air with its wings and tail feather spread wide. It directly faces the camera with its underside exposed and clutches a vole in its yellow talons. Another raptor flies above the forward-facing kite, its profile visible in front of a cloudless blue sky.
Below are all of the other winners for each remaining category.
Professional Award Winner

Amateur Award Winner

Youth Award Winner

Plants for Birds Award Winner

Female Bird Prize

Fisher Prize
Professional Honorable Mention

Amateur Honorable Mention

Youth Honorable Mention

Plants for Birds Honorable Mention

The video awards winners and all other winners and honorable mentions can be seen on the National Audubon Society competition website, which also reveals more details about how each photo was taken.
Image credits: All photos are individually credited and provided courtesy of the Audubon Photography Awards.