Your lens can inspire action! A single image can inspire someone to care, act, or believe in a future where both nature and people thrive. The Rewilding Europe Award celebrates talent and empowers photographers to influence change, create dialogue, and reimagine a Europe that is wilder and richer. Are you ready to make a difference with your lens?
Capture the essence of rewilding
Rewilding is more than a conservation approach; it’s a bold vision for the future—a movement that allows nature to reclaim its vitality, restores natural processes, and redefines the relationship between people and the wild. It’s about witnessing forests regrow, rivers run free and wildlife return.
The Rewilding Europe Award is part of the prestigious GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest and your chance to shine by showcasing Europe’s wild side. We seek photographs that illustrate rewilding in motion — scenes that evoke passion, curiosity, and wonder.
Your rewilding image
Your photographs should look beyond the obvious and vividly depict the spirit of rewilding – scenes that tell a story of wild resurgence or the interconnectedness of life. They could showcase the link between biodiversity, climate and the wellbeing of people and communities. This is an opportunity to unleash your creativity and to champion visual storytelling as a powerful tool in the fight for a brighter, wilder Europe.
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Tips from the team
The following themes are central to rewilding and will guide your submissions:
Restored natural processes: Show how rewilding breathes life into landscapes and nature is taking the lead, with rivers carving their own paths once again, forests regenerating naturally, meadows bursting with biodiversity, or the dynamic circle of life taking centre stage.
Wildlife shaping the landscape: Capture the transformative role of keystone species like beavers building wetlands, large herbivores sculpting landscapes, or predator-prey interactions that drive ecosystem recovery.
The return of iconic species: Celebrate Europe’s native species reclaiming their habitats—wolves, lynx, bison, sturgeon, or black storks thriving in their natural European habitats.
Harmony between people and nature: Illustrate coexistence—wildlife corridors, shared spaces, or moments of mutual respect between humans and nature. Showcase how rewilding benefits communities whilst restoring balance.
Active rewilding efforts: Focus on the human role in rewilding—reintroducing species, removing barriers or restoring ecosystems whilst leaving space for natural processes to take over.
Your images should reflect nature taking the lead, wildlife as architects of change, iconic species reclaiming their former spaces, and people and wild nature thriving together.
We look forward to receiving your entry!
Closing date: 1st of March 2025
Restoring giants: the release of sturgeon in Sweden marks a vital step in active rewilding, reintroducing a keystone species to revive aquatic ecosystems and restore balance to the river’s natural processes.
Jon A. Juarez / Rewilding Europe
Where nature takes the lead: the Millingerwaard, a pioneer rewilding site, showcases the harmony of wild nature and people, as restored natural processes bring life back to dynamic rivers, regenerating forests, and thriving meadows.
ARK Rewilding Netherlands
The return of iconic species: Celebrate Europe’s native species reclaiming their habitats—wolves, lynx, bison, sturgeon, or black storks thriving in their natural European habitats.
Stefan Stefanov
The Circle of Life in action: predators like wolves play a vital role in rewilding, driving nature recovery and showcasing the transformative power of predator-prey dynamics in shaping wilder landscapes.
Bram Ubels & Jillis Roos
The return of iconic species: Celebrate Europe’s native species reclaiming their habitats—wolves, lynx, bison, sturgeon, or black storks thriving in their natural European habitats.
Staffan Widstrand
Wildlife shaping the landscape: Capture the transformative role of animals like beavers building wetlands, large herbivores shaping landscapes, or predator-prey interactions that drive ecosystem recovery.
Neil Aldridge
Active rewilding efforts: Focus on the human role in rewilding—reintroducing species, removing barriers, or restoring ecosystems while leaving space for natural processes to take over.
Neil Aldridge
Active rewilding in action: gravel restoration on the Abramsån river in Swedish Lapland helps reshape habitats, paving the way for nature to reclaim and thrive in this Nordic taiga landscape.
Arthur de Bruin / Rewilding Europe
Thriving in a wilder landscape: griffon vultures play a vital role in healthy ecosystems, sustained naturally by the circle of life and the abundance of wild animal carcasses.
Bruno D'Amicis
Natural flooding: a vital process that breathes life into rivers, reshaping landscapes, replenishing wetlands, and creating habitats teeming with biodiversity as nature takes the lead.
Elio della Ferrera / Wild Wonders of Europe
Nature's artistry: tidal marshes in Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park showcase the self-organising power of nature, where restored dynamics and natural regrowth breathe life into this vibrant landscape.
Diego Lopez / Wild Wonders of Europe
Predators in action: Tobias Richter's award-winning image captures the dynamic interplay between grey wolves and wild boar in eastern Germany, showcasing the vital role predators play in shaping and balancing wild landscapes.
Tobias Richter
Restoring giants: the release of sturgeon in Sweden marks a vital step in active rewilding, reintroducing a keystone species to revive aquatic ecosystems and restore balance to the river’s natural processes.
Jon A. Juarez / Rewilding Europe
Where nature takes the lead: the Millingerwaard, a pioneer rewilding site, showcases the harmony of wild nature and people, as restored natural processes bring life back to dynamic rivers, regenerating forests, and thriving meadows.
ARK Rewilding Netherlands
The return of iconic species: Celebrate Europe’s native species reclaiming their habitats—wolves, lynx, bison, sturgeon, or black storks thriving in their natural European habitats.
Stefan Stefanov
The Circle of Life in action: predators like wolves play a vital role in rewilding, driving nature recovery and showcasing the transformative power of predator-prey dynamics in shaping wilder landscapes.
Bram Ubels & Jillis Roos
The return of iconic species: Celebrate Europe’s native species reclaiming their habitats—wolves, lynx, bison, sturgeon, or black storks thriving in their natural European habitats.
Staffan Widstrand
Wildlife shaping the landscape: Capture the transformative role of animals like beavers building wetlands, large herbivores shaping landscapes, or predator-prey interactions that drive ecosystem recovery.
Neil Aldridge
Active rewilding efforts: Focus on the human role in rewilding—reintroducing species, removing barriers, or restoring ecosystems while leaving space for natural processes to take over.
Neil Aldridge
Active rewilding in action: gravel restoration on the Abramsån river in Swedish Lapland helps reshape habitats, paving the way for nature to reclaim and thrive in this Nordic taiga landscape.
Arthur de Bruin / Rewilding Europe
Thriving in a wilder landscape: griffon vultures play a vital role in healthy ecosystems, sustained naturally by the circle of life and the abundance of wild animal carcasses.
Bruno D'Amicis
Natural flooding: a vital process that breathes life into rivers, reshaping landscapes, replenishing wetlands, and creating habitats teeming with biodiversity as nature takes the lead.
Elio della Ferrera / Wild Wonders of Europe
Nature's artistry: tidal marshes in Bahía de Cádiz Natural Park showcase the self-organising power of nature, where restored dynamics and natural regrowth breathe life into this vibrant landscape.
Diego Lopez / Wild Wonders of Europe
Predators in action: Tobias Richter's award-winning image captures the dynamic interplay between grey wolves and wild boar in eastern Germany, showcasing the vital role predators play in shaping and balancing wild landscapes.
Tobias Richter
Meet the Jury
Peter Cairns
Jury member
Peter Cairns
Jury member
Peter Cairns is the founder and Head of Rewilding at Scottish rewilding charity, SCOTLAND: The Big Picture. He’s spent his 30 year career documenting stories from nature close to his home in the Cairngorms National Park and across the world. He is a Senior Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers, a keynote speaker, multi-award winning photographer, author of several books and ran a successful wildlife photography tour guiding business for many years. As a co-founder of conservation communication projects, Wild Wonders of Europe and 2020VISION, he has helped shape the narratives that inspire people to reconnect with nature.
Jen Guyton
Jury member
Jen Guyton
Jury member
Jen Guyton is a German/American ecologist and multi-award winning photographer currently living in Charleston, South Carolina. She gained her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University before turning her focus to photography. She has a passion for telling stories at the junction of global environmental change and human culture. Jen is a contributor to National Geographic magazine, a National Geographic Explorer and a fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers. She has spent a large part of her career in Africa, using her camera to tell inspiring stories with a particular focus on Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique.
James Shooter
Advisor
James Shooter
Advisor
James Shooter has been involved in rewilding communications for the last 12 years, primarily as a photographer and filmmaker. He’s passionate about finding new ways to communicate stories from the natural world. Throughout his photography career he has contributed to storytelling at a number of rewilding initiatives, won several awards and accomplished a life long dream of filming on a David Attenborough production, Wild Isles. In 2023, James and his young family packed up their possessions, sold their house and went travelling to rewilding sites across Europe, telling stories along the way through The Rewild Podcast. On return, he started a new role as Visual Storyteller at Rewilding Europe.
Laurien Holtjer
Advisor
Laurien Holtjer
Advisor
Laurien Holtjer is Director of Engagement and Public Relations at Rewilding Europe, leading its communication and marketing strategies to inspire people to reconnect with nature and embrace rewilding. With a background in nature conservation and strategic communications, she specialises in storytelling and public engagement. Laurien holds an MSc in Tropical Nature Conservation from Wageningen University and has worked as a journalist and communication manager in the conservation sector. Laurien believes in rewilding as the way for nature to recover at scale and strengthen the relationship between people and wild nature.
“Photography has the unique power to bridge the gap between nature and people, evoking emotions that words alone cannot. Through powerful images, we can unveil the beauty and resilience of wild nature, inspire someone to care and even influence positive change. The Rewilding Europe Award is a call for photographers to become storytellers of Europe’s rewilding journey, capturing moments that bring hope and a vision of a wilder future to life.”
Laurien Holtjer
Director Engagement & Public Relations
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