2025 South Downs National Park Photo Competition
Everyone has their favourite spot (or spots!) in the South Downs!
It might be admiring the dramatic chalk cliffs at Seven Sisters, wandering through the misty autumn woods at Ebernoe, or the immense view of coast and country from Butser Hill.
The South Downs National Park is full of iconic gems that make for great photographs – from the stunning landscape, to the awe-inspiring wildlife, to the majestic old buildings and street scenes.
As the National Park is celebrating its 15th birthday this year, we want you to photograph some of your favourite things about the South Downs – whether that be locations, views, towns and villages, heritage, food and drink, or whatever your imagination can think of!
The prizes for the competition, Three cheers for 15 years: South Downs favourites, will be £250 for first place, £150 for second place, £75 for third place and £50 for fourth place.
As always there will be a separate wildlife category, with a £150 prize for the best shot and £75 for the runner-up image.
The youth competition returns this year for budding young photographers – with categories 10 years and under and 11 to 17. Young photographers are being challenged to snap an amazing shot of their favourite aspect of the South Downs National Park. The prize for 10 years and under will be a family ticket to Marwell Wildlife, while the winner of the 11 to 17 category will win a GoApe adventure for two.
One of the prizewinners, to be picked at random, will also receive a bonus prize of a place on a workshop with the Royal Photographic Society’s Landscape Group.
The judging panel has a line-up of acclaimed photographers, including Howard Klein, who sits on the Royal Photographic Society’s Landscape Committee, Rachael Talibart, Finn Hopson, and Carlotta Luke. Claire Blow, Deputy Editor of Outdoor Photography, returns to the panel, alongside Jan Knowlson, Biodiversity Officer for the National Park, and Vanessa Rowlands, Chair of the National Park Authority.
The deadline for entries will be midnight on Friday, 31 October, 2025.
The winners will be announced in January 2026 and there will be a public vote for the People’s Choice winner with a prize of £100.
Enter the competition!
- Adult entry form
- Youth competition entry form – 10 and under
- Youth competition entry form – 11 to 17
Please fill in an entry form for each image and send the form and photograph to photo@southdowns.gov.uk
Photographs should be jpg and between 1mb and 10mb.
Each photographer can submit up to five images in total. Please try to send each image and form in a separate email.
Full terms and conditions can be seen here
For inspiration here are some previous prizewinners:
