PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION RULES
PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION RULES
SHOOTING WITH A DIFFERENCE
SA Hunters Photography aims to promote nature and wildlife photography within the Association. We offer members young and old the opportunity to share their photography, improve their skills and to compete.
Photography Competition Information, Rules, Terms and Conditions
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1. General Information
SA Hunters’ members enjoy spending time outdoors, and many members are skilled photographers who love to share their photos with others. SA Hunters’ Photography Competition serves several purposes:
- It provides a platform for members to share their photos.
- It serves as an incentive to improve their photography skills.
- It recognises photographers for their excellent photos.
- It provides a valuable source of photos to enrich the association’s photo portfolio.
All fully paid-up members of the association are eligible to participate in the Amateur Photography Competition.
The categories make provision for entries taken with smartphones and DSLR/mirrorless cameras.
Members who submit their photos to the SA Hunters Photography Competition automatically grant permission for SA Hunters to use the photos on various platforms, giving full credit to the photographer.
Experienced photographers evaluate all entries for each theme based on technical quality.
The competition runs from January 1 to December 31.
2. Awards
Each category and its subcategories are judged based on different criteria. The most challenging and competitive category is “Fauna and Flora” for adults (18 and older) using DSLR and mirrorless (ML) cameras.
Awards for qualifying entries are as follows:
- 60% to 74%: Bronze certificate
- 75% to 89%: Silver certificate
- 90% to 99%: Gold certificate
- outstanding photos scoring 100%: Platinum
Certificates will be uploaded to members’ online profiles on the website.
Members can also order bronze badges, similar to shooting badges, through their branches.
Photographers’ entries also stand a chance to be chosen as the cover photograph of the SA HUNTER magazine, which will earn the photographer a special award for this achievement.
After the year’s competition, the Photographer of the Year and category winners will be announced.
3. Categories
The competition categories reflect the typical environments or situations where members may find themselves during any of SA Hunters’ activities.
Each category has three age groups:
- A – participants 18 years and older
- B – participants 18 years and younger
- C – participants 13 years and younger
- (FF-DSLR) Fauna and Flora Digital single lens reflective *(everything in nature specific to Southern Africa)
- (FF-ML) Fauna and Flora Mirror-less *(everything in nature specific to Southern Africa)
- (FF-SMART) Fauna and Flora smartphone/tablet *(everything in nature specific to Southern Africa)
- (BUF) Buffalo DSLR/mirrorless/smartphone/tablet *(we are always looking for buffalo photos for all our projects)
- (TAB) Branch Activities and Conservation Projects *(the activities of members at branch level and during conservation projects)
- (SB) The Shooting Range DSLR/mirrorless/smartphone/tablet *(events on the shooting range and during competitions. Photographers must always adhere to all safety rules on the shooting range, around firearms, and during hunting when taking photos.)
- (JV) The Hunt DSLR/mirrorless/smartphone/tablet *(people and animals during the hunt, events during the hunt, but no photos of hunted animals. Send photos of hunted animals to Bokspog in SA JAGTER/SA HUNTER at bokspog@sahunter.org. Photographers must always adhere to all safety rules during the hunt when taking photos.)
- (MS) Mentoring DSLR/mirrorless/smartphone/tablet *(read more about the SA Hunters Mentoring Programme and feel free to send photos depicting this activity)
Members can submit a total of 15 photos per month in various categories:
- Maximum of 5 photos in category 1 or 2 (Fauna and Flora DSLR/ML and smartphone)
- 5 photos for category 3 (Buffalo)
- 5 photos in categories 4, 5, 6 or 7 (Branch Activities and Conservation, The Shooting Range, The Hunt, Mentoring).
4. Competition Rules
- VERY IMPORTANT: Photos must be 300 dpi and larger than 2MB. There is no limit to the maximum size of the photo.
- All metadata must be visible.
- Smartphone photos must be taken on the 3:4 scale; no full-frame photos will be accepted.
- Smartphone photos must be taken without filters and special effects.
- Photos must not contain watermarks, signatures, or other acknowledgements.
- Both full-colour and black-and-white photos are accepted, but since full-colour can be used for more purposes, we request members who submit black-and-white photos to also submit the full-colour photo for the Association’s photo portfolio.
- Photos may be processed to some extent, but no components may be added or removed. The judges reserve the right to disqualify photos that are excessively processed.
- It is the responsibility of participating members to ensure that they understand and comply with the competition rules. Direct any inquiries to info@sahunt.co.za
- Award-winning photos will be announced on the SA Hunters website and in the SA Hunters newsletter.
5. How to Enter
- The competitions are open to all fully paid-up members of SA Hunters but are exclusively for amateur photographers (individuals who do not work as professional photographers).
- Entries are free.
- From 2024, the process of submitting photos has been simplified. Members submit their first photo by email together with all the information listed below. Each member will receive instructions and a unique link to a personal OneDrive (cloud) file to upload all their photo entries.
- Photos must be uploaded in high resolution and larger than 2 MB. There is no longer a limit on the maximum size of the photos.
- Send the email to info@sahunt.co.za with “Photography Competition 2026” in the subject line.
- The first and only entry per e-mail must be accompanied by the information below:
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- Name and surname:
- SA Hunters membership number:
- Age group:
- SA Hunters branch:
- Cell phone number:
- Email address:
- Category:
- Species or subject:
- Location:
6. Terms and Conditions
Only photos of phenotypic fauna and flora in their natural habitat that are native to Africa and photos of responsible and sustainable hunting and shooting practices will be accepted.
The following descriptions of the rules apply to the photography competition:
- Africa-native: species naturally occurring in Africa.
- Phenotypic: observable natural characteristics according to rule 3.1.5 of SA Hunters’ trophy register general rules. This means no photos of colour variants or hybrid animals.
- Natural habitat: Only photos of animals in a natural environment, i.e., no photos of animals with ear tags, behind fences and at feeding troughs.
- Responsible shooting practices: Safe use of a firearm, e.g., the barrel must always point in a safe direction.
- Responsible hunting practices: e.g., no firing of lead shot over wetlands.
- Participants may only submit photos they have taken themselves and for which they hold the copyright.
- By entering, participants give permission to SA Hunters to use the photos unlimitedly for the association’s purposes, including the two magazines, but with full recognition of the photographer.
- Photos that harm the image of hunting or portray it in a negative light, e.g., hunters covered in blood, will not be accepted.
- No photos of hunted animals will be accepted.
- Management reserves the right to remove any photo that does not comply with the rules.
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