Belfast Zoo 34th Annual Photography Competition Winners

The winners of Belfast Zoo's annual photographic competition have now been selected.

The competition, which has been running for 34 years, is sponsored by HB and challenges budding and amateur photographers to creatively photograph the animals and scenes of the zoo; capturing the wonder of nature while exhibiting photographic excellence, high quality skills and a great eye for a 'zooper' photo!

Zoo manager and competition judge, Alyn Cairns, said "Despite the fact that the competition has been running for more than 30 years, we are always stunned by the standard of the submissions, as well as the quality and skill demonstrated by entrants. Having moved the competition into an online and digital platform this year, we have received almost double the amount of submissions with more than 650 entries! The photographs certainly highlighted the beauty and diversity of the species that we care for. This year we even introduced a new category to challenge visitors to get some snaps of our most endangered primates. We were astounded by the number of species represented in the competition from the tiny pygmy marmoset to Tina the elephant! I would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsor, HB, for their continued support of the competition. I would also like to praise the efforts of everyone who entered the competition this year, as well as our winners."

The winners were as follows:

Category A - best picture taken by a club photographer

1st prize and overall winner – Joe Beattie (Carrickfergus Camera Club)
2nd prize – William Allen (Central Photographic Association)
3rd prize – Tommy Millar (Ballymoney Camera Club)
highly commended – William Allen (Central Photographic Association)
highly commended – Joe Beattie (Carrickfergus Camera Club)

Category B - best picture taken by a zoo visitor

1st prize – Mervyn Marshall
2nd prize – Mervyn Marshall
3rd prize – Chris Gunning
highly commended – Lesley Barker
highly commended – Marina Kulakova
highly commended – Chris McSherry

Category C - best black and white picture

1st prize – William Allen
2nd prize- Fiona Beattie
3rd prize – Joe Beattie
highly commended – Bruce Marshall
highly commended – William Allen
highly commended – Chloe Thompson

Category D - best funny caption

1st prize – Gemma Vennard
highly commended – Siobhan Carrabin
highly commended – Fiona Beattie

Category E - best picture taken by someone under 16

1st prize – Alexander Allen
highly commended – Joshua Willey
highly commended – Alexander Allen

The winners of Belfast Zoo's annual photographic competition were selected by a judging panel including two professional photographers.

You can see all of the winning photographs from Belfast Zoo's annual photographic competition 2017 at www.belfastzoo.co.uk/photocomp and don't forget to enter the 2018 competition!

Photo Captions:

1. Category A (best picture taken by a club photographer) 1st prize and overall winner - red panda by Joe Beattie
2. Category A (best picture taken by a club photographer) 2nd prize - crowned lemur by William Allen
3. Category A (best picture taken by a club photographer) 3rd prize - prairie dog by Tommy Millar
4. Category A (best picture taken by a club photographer) highly commended - striped hyaena Joe Beattie
5. Category A (best picture taken by a club photographer) highly commended - Von der Decken's hornbill by William Allen
6. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) 1st prize - Turquoise dwarf gecko by Mervyn Marshall
7. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) 2nd prize - red titi monkey by Mervyn Marshall
8. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) 3rd prize - Barbary lion by Chris Gunning
9. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) highly commended - Western lowland gorilla by Chris McSherry
10. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) highly commended - emperor tamarin by Lesley Barker
11. Category B (best picture taken by a zoo visitor) highly commended - meerkat by Marina Kulakova
12.Category C (best black and white picture) 1st prize - Grant's zebras by William Allen
13. Category C (best black and white picture) 2nd prize - Western lowland gorilla by Fiona Beattie
14. Category C (best black and white picture) 3rd prize - Barbary lion by Joe Beattie
15. Category C (best black and white picture) highly commended - Sumatran tiger by Bruce Marshall
16. Category C (best black and white picture) highly commended - Barbary lion by Chloe Thompson
17. Category C (best black and white picture) highly commended - Asian elephant by William Allen
18. Category D (best funny caption) 1st prize - Gemma Vennard 'Some mothers do 'av 'em'
19. Category D (best funny caption) highly commended - Fiona Beattie 'She started it!'
20. Category D (best funny caption) highly commended - Siobhan Carrabin 'I just want a hug'
21. Category E (best picture taken by an under 16) 1st prize - Chestnut-backed thrush by Alexander Allen
22.Category E (best picture taken by an under 16) highly commended - Malayan tapir by Alexander Allen
23.Category E (best picture taken by an under 16) highly commended - golden mantella by Joshua Willey
24. Category F (best picture of our primate heroes) 1st prize - golden lion tamarin by William Allen
25. Category F (best picture of our primate heroes) 2nd prize - ring-tailed lemurs by Ralph McCullagh
26. Category F (best picture of our primate heroes) 3rd prize - Francois langur by Andrea Martin
27. Category F (best picture of our primate heroes) highly commended - crowned sifaka by Marina Kulakova
28. Category F (best picture of our primate heroes) highly commended - Francois langur by William Allen

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