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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe National Audubon Society announced the 2024 Audubon Photography Awards on June 20, 2024, in the contest’s fifteenth year. The nine prizes recognized photographs and video for technical quality, originality, artistic merit, and adherence to Audubon’s ethical photography guide. The new Birds in Landscapes Prize highlighted birds in the context of their surroundings.
For the full results, the official winners and honorable mentions gallery offers photographer accounts, judges’ comments, species and location captions, and equipment notes. Together, the work shows how a bird’s behavior and its relationship with habitat or human surroundings can shape a compelling image.
Who won the 2024 Audubon Photography Awards?
The 2024 contest awarded nine prizes: Grand Prize, Professional, Amateur, Plants for Birds, Video, Female Bird, Birds in Landscapes, Fisher, and Youth. The winners and prize details below are historical results from the 2024 contest, not current contest terms.
| Prize | Winner | 2024 prize |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Prize | Mathew Malwitz | $5,000 |
| Professional | Liron Gertsman | $2,500 |
| Amateur | Tristan Vratil | $2,500 |
| Plants for Birds | Linda Scher | $2,500 |
| Video | Steven Chu | $2,500 |
| Female Bird | Alyssa Bueno | $1,000 |
| Birds in Landscapes | Kevin Lohman | $1,000 |
| Fisher | Douglas DeFelice | $1,000 |
| Youth | Parham Pourahmad | Six days at Audubon’s Hog Island Audubon Camp for Teens during the 2025 season |
Audubon reported that more than 2,300 entrants took part, representing all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., nine Canadian provinces, and one Canadian territory. The Top 100 gallery separately reports more than 8,500 submitted photographs and videos. Audubon magazine describes 14 winners and honorable mentions, followed by 100 additional selected photographs; that gallery count is distinct from the announcement’s nine prizes.
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What made the 2024 winning images distinctive?
The official gallery presents a range of approaches rather than a single winning formula: action, camouflage, habitat, city settings, and video. The examples below show how photographers used different subjects and circumstances to tell a visual story.
Mathew Malwitz: Grand Prize
Mathew Malwitz won the Grand Prize for a photograph of two Blackburnian Warblers fighting at Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania. The image captures behavior rather than a posed portrait. Audubon’s announcement describes the prize-winning work, while the official gallery provides the full winner coverage and photographer account.
Kevin Lohman: Birds in Landscapes Prize
Kevin Lohman won the inaugural Birds in Landscapes Prize for a California Quail near Santa Cruz. He described hearing the bird, seeing it perched as a sentinel above its flock, and finding a viewpoint that revealed layers in the landscape. A judge praised the context: the quail appears in its home rather than isolated in a tight close-up.
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Audubon explained that the category was intended to encourage photographers to show the whole environment, whether wild, urban, or suburban. The prize makes habitat part of the photograph’s story, not merely a backdrop.
Parham Pourahmad: Youth Award
Youth Award winner Parham Pourahmad photographed an American Kestrel in San Jose, California, using a Nikon D3500 and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens, according to Audubon’s gallery. His account says pedestrians made the kestrels skittish, so he waited in a car with his mother. It is one documented setup, not a universal equipment recommendation.
Steven Chu: Video Award
Steven Chu filmed Purple Gallinules at Orlando Wetlands in Christmas, Florida. After returning across 13 sunrises and sunsets, he captured a confrontation involving two birds and an intruder. The judge praised the color, lighting, and clear visual story. The video category shows how repeated visits can reveal a sequence that a single still frame cannot convey.
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Other subjects in the gallery
The gallery also features a Wild Turkey in an altered suburban setting, a Common Gallinule diving for food, Forster’s Terns shaking water off after fishing, and a Sedge Wren moving among flowers and grasses. Consult the official captions when identifying individual photographers or locations for these images.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did the judges consider?
The National Audubon Society says all photos and videos were judged on technical quality, originality, and artistic merit, and had to follow its Guide to Ethical Bird Photography and Videography. That standard makes ethical production part of the contest’s stated criteria, not an optional extra.
The gallery’s variety also cautions against treating the awards as a controlled test of cameras or lenses. The winners used different equipment, and the Youth Award winner’s Nikon D3500 setup is one example among them. The official coverage is most useful as a source for each photographer’s approach, the image’s story, and the equipment notes attached to that work.
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How do the awards relate to conservation?
Photographs can draw attention to birds and the habitats or built environments they use, but the contest is not a population study. The 2024 announcement attributes the claim that two-thirds of North American bird species are threatened by climate change to Audubon’s separate Survival by Degrees report. That figure comes from the report, not from the photography awards.
FAQ
Who won the 2024 Audubon Photography Awards Grand Prize?
Mathew Malwitz won the Grand Prize for a photograph of two Blackburnian Warblers fighting at Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania.
What was new in the 2024 Audubon Photography Awards?
The contest introduced the Birds in Landscapes Prize. Kevin Lohman won it for a California Quail photograph near Santa Cruz that places the bird within its surroundings.
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How many prizes were awarded in 2024?
The National Audubon Society’s announcement lists nine prizes. Audubon magazine’s gallery separately describes 14 winners and honorable mentions and 100 additional selected photographs; these are different counts.
What camera and lens did a 2024 winner use?
Audubon’s gallery lists a Nikon D3500 and Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM Contemporary lens for Youth Award winner Parham Pourahmad. Other photographers used different systems, so this is a documented example rather than a general recommendation.
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