[Pixalo]

Press Release
Digital photography is now the chosen medium for most bird photographers and this competition will showcase the best of their images. Aimed at both professionals and amateur photographers, the competition also hopes to attract digiscopers as well as digital SLR camera users, as there is a special category for digiscoped images which acknowledges the popularity of this latest photographic method.

There is still time to take part, with the closing date being 31 August 2006. All entries must be accompanied by an official entry form, published in recent issues of Birdwatch, and the special entry token which can be found in the August issue of the magazine (on sale now in all good newsagents).

The three categories of entry are:

* Birds of Britain: wild bird images taken in Britain.
* Birds of the World: wild bird images taken outside Britain.
* Digiscoped Birds: wild bird images taken with a telescope and camera, anywhere in the world.

Kowa is providing prizes worth more than £4,000, with the winner of each category receiving one of the company’s acclaimed telescopes. A special binocular prize will also be awarded for the best digiscoped image using a Kowa telescope. The winner of the main Birds of Britain category will be presented with their prize at the Photokina international photographic fair, held in Cologne, Germany, in September.

The panel of judges include acclaimed bird photographers David Hosking and Steve Young, and author and broadcaster Stephen Moss.

Entry rules
The full rules of entry were published in the June issue Birdwatch and are available on request (0208 881 0550). The key guidelines are:

* Up to three images in each category can be submitted, and individual images can only be submitted into one category.
* All images must have been taken in the last five years and must not have won a prize in another major competition.
* Images must be submitted on a CD or DVD as a PC-compatible TIFF or JPEG file, with a minimum image size of 2,000 pixels along the longest dimension. Files should be labelled with the photographer’s name, category number/name and subject/species. Full information about the equipment used, and where and when the image was taken, should be added to each image in the Properties Summary (Windows) or File Info (Photoshop).
* Images can be cropped and have minimal cleaning, sharpening and adjustment. Obviously, manipulated or enhanced images are not admissible.
* Images should be accompanied by an entry form from the magazine and the token from the August issue. A contact sheet of the images submitted, labelled on the reverse with the entrant’s names address and contact details (email address and phone number), should also be supplied.


Entries should be sent, by 31 August 2006, to: Digital Photography Awards, Birdwatch, Solo Publishing, The Chocolate Factory, 5 Clarendon Road, London N22 6XJ, United Kingdom.

Prizes

* Birds of Britain: Kowa’s newest flagship telescope, to be launched later this year
* Birds of the World: Kowa TSN-663 ED telescope
* Digiscoped Birds: Kowa TSN-823M telescope
* Digiscoped with a Kowa Scope: Kowa Genesis 44 binocular


Each telescope prize comes with a wide-angle eyepiece and a Kowa digital camera adapter.