Arche Guntrams photo competition 2025 – “Nature up close”

Nature Museum Ark Guntrams Cash prizes

Naturmuseum Arche Guntrams cash prizes worth a total of 1,700 euros for impressive photographic achievements on the subject of “Nature up close. The photos must be demonstrably taken in the wild in Austria and in countries bordering Austria, the term “nature” refers to plants, animals and microorganisms, the term “close-up” means so-called close-ups – the close-up of the object should therefore be in the foreground in the image composition. Photographs that are not in the interest of nature and species conservation will not be awarded a prize.

First prize: 500 euros
Second prize: 300 euros
Third prize: 200 euros
Seven special prizes of €100 each
The non-awarding, splitting of prizes and the additional awarding of special prizes is possible.
Submissions to:

The event is organized by the Arche Guntrams Nature Museum and Dr. Stefan M. Gergely(artenschatz.at, email: .

Submissions to:
under the following conditions

1. Participants are persons of legal age who are permanent residents of Austria or one of the 8 neighboring countries and who submit a photo for the competition. Participation is not dependent on the purchase of goods or services. Employees of the organizer or of cooperation partners are excluded from participation.
2. The closing date for this competition is September 30, 2025 at midnight. Image files that meet the minimum requirements and the participant’s contact details (name, address, email, telephone) must be sent to the email address Sending services such as WeTransfer or HiDrive-Share are permitted.
   By sending their photos, entrants accept these conditions of participation. The submission is deemed to have been accepted with the subsequent confirmation by , but subject to the subsequent check for compliance with the minimum requirements and conformity with the calls for entries in the respective category.
   The announcement of the winners and the award ceremony will take place after notification of the winners by e-mail, probably at the end of October / beginning of November 2025 at Gut Guntrams.
3. Minimum requirements, number of submissions per participant.
   Image files must be submitted in JPG/JPEG format and must not be less than 6 megapixels in resolution (e.g. 3,000 x 2,000 pixels). Digital image enlargement (interpolation) to meet the image resolution requirement is not permitted. A maximum of ten different images per participant will be accepted per category.
4. Requirements for image title/filename/description of the image. The file name of each photo must first contain the sender’s name abbreviation (first letters of first name and surname) and a short description, e.g. “Apple blossom in . . . xy (location)” or “Stag beetle in . . . xy (location)”. Upper or lower case letters are possible, special characters are not permitted. A text file with the participant’s contact details (name, address, e-mail, telephone) and an indication of the place where the photo was taken must be provided with the entry.
5. Image processing is permitted. Images that have multiple source files are only permitted in cases of HDR, panorama, focus stacking and in-camera multiple exposures (additive and average). Multiple exposures (MFB), panorama (PAN), focus stacking (FS), HDR technique (HDR) must be indicated at the end of the file name with the corresponding abbreviation.
6. Photomontages and the digital addition or removal of objects are not permitted. The jury reserves the right to request the unedited, original RAW or JPG in individual cases in order to verify the authenticity of the submitted image. Excessive editing of the images can overshadow the photographic achievement and therefore lead to a low rating. Digitally inserted elements such as watermarks, names or frames make it difficult for the jury to make an objective assessment and therefore lead to the exclusion of the respective image.
7. Duty of care of the participants. By submitting an entry, participants assure that they have photographed the submitted images themselves and at a location in Austria or in a country bordering Austria, that they own all rights to them without restriction, that they do not infringe any personal rights and that they have received a written declaration of consent to participate in the competition from any persons photographed and from the owners of any rights to the objects depicted. The participants indemnify Arche Guntrams and all partners and media against any claims by third parties.
8. Jury decision. The expert jury is headed by nature photographer Bernhard Schubert and is made up of photographers and cooperation partners. The jury alone decides on the winning photos. In the pre-selection, the jurors evaluate the photos on their own, without knowledge of the evaluation by the co-jurors. In the final decision, voting is possible with a majority decision of the jurors present. The jury’s decisions are final and incontestable. The organizer will notify the winners by e-mail no later than 20 days after the closing date.
9. In the event of the awarding of prizes for submitted photos, the participants grant the organizer or the partners of the competition a non-exclusive right of use to the prize-winning images, unlimited in terms of space, time and content. In addition to the use of the image in photo exhibitions, this right includes in particular, but not exclusively, the passing on and publication of the images on the website atand/ and the websites or printed matter of cooperation partners. The award winners are not entitled to a usage fee for such uses.
10. Participants bear the risk of loss or damage to image files during online transmission. Liability on the part of the organizer is excluded.
11. Exclusion from the competition. The organizer may exclude unsuitable images from the competition without stating reasons. In particular, the submitted images must not contain any offensive, morally questionable, discriminatory, racist, violence-glorifying or pornographic elements. Violations of the conditions of participation will also lead to exclusion.
12. Participation in the competition requires the provision of personal data. The participants assure that their personal details, in particular first and last name and e-mail address, are true and correct. The organizer points out that personal data of the participants will not be passed on to third parties or made available for use without consent. In the event of a win, the winners agree to the publication of their name. This includes the announcement by the organizer and its cooperation partners, in particular for the purposes of the exhibition as well as on websites and social media platforms. The personal data collected during the photo competition is collected exclusively for the purpose of running the competition. The data will remain stored on the organizer’s servers even after the end of the competition.
13. Prices and legal process: Cash redemption of vouchers is not possible. Errors are not excluded. Legal recourse is excluded. The organizer reserves the right to cancel the competition without prior notice and without giving reasons. This applies in particular to any reasons that disrupt or prevent the competition from running as planned or if it is not possible to carry it out correctly for technical reasons. +++2ndBote aus der Buckligen Welt Prizes in kind for photos on the topic
    “Region up close: Marterl und Bildstöcke in der Buckligen Welt und dem Wechselland”.
    The first three places will each receive a voucher from Scherz-Kogelbauer GmbH for the branches (book/paper) in Kirchschlag and Ternitz and for the Reithmeyer bookshop in Neunkirchen. First place will receive a voucher worth EUR 100, second place a voucher worth EUR 70 and third place a voucher worth EUR 50.foto@bote-bw. atDiePhotos must be submitted in high resolution to ensure perfect presentation in print and on the web.
    Photos should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi with an image size of at least 2000 pixels on the longer side.
    . B iPhone or Android devices) Pictures taken are welcome, provided they are in high quality (without compression or filters)+++3. Naturhotel Gut Guntrams non-cash prizes
    with a total value of 1,000 euros for photos on the theme “Nature up close”.
    First prize: voucher for two people and two nights in the Garden Loft including breakfast, room service (antipasti, water and wine) worth 484 euros.
    Second prize: Voucher for two people and two nights including breakfast at the Villa Tranquillini studio worth 328 euros.
    Third prize: Voucher for two people and an overnight stay with breakfast for two at Flora worth 138 euros.
    Recognition prize: Gift box worth 50 euros (juices, jams, juice, tea, fruit jelly)Participation is very easy:
    Post a photo with the hashtag #gutguntrams on Instagram
    Follow the Insta account @gutguntrams
    Send a photo via direct message (DM).
    For further conditions of participation, see point 3 below +++Conditions of participationfor the Gut Guntrams photo competition
    Post a photo with the hashtag #gutguntrams
    Follow the #gutguntrams account
    Send a photo by direct message (DM)
    By participating in the “Nature up close” photo competition , participants agree that their submitted photo may be published on Gut Guntrams’ social media channels (Instagram, Facebook) as part of the competition. The participants assure that they are the authors of the submitted photo and that no rights of third parties, in particular personal rights of persons depicted, are violated. The personal data collected as part of the competition (e.g. Instagram handle, name, winner’s address) will only be used to run the competition and send the prize. No further contact will be made for advertising purposes or any other use of the data. After the end of the competition, all personal data not required for the transmission of the prize will be deleted, including this data after transmission of the prize. Legal recourse is excluded. This competition is in no way connected to Instagram and is in no way sponsored, supported or organized by Instagram.

Guntrams, March 2025

Guntrams Ark Nature Museum
Dr. Stefan M. Gergely
Guntrams 11
2625 Schwarzau am Steinfeld
Mail:

Closing date: September 30, 2025