The OVA launches their 2026 photo competition focusing on families and young people.  
 

It’s time again to dust off your camera and take part in the annual OVA photo competition. This year we would like to encourage families to get outside and help their children learn more about the natural world around us.  So, we are calling on parents, grand-parents and carers to enter the competition with photographs taken by young people (under the age of 16) with a subject of:

Maybe you have spotted some amazing worms in the garden, or birds playing in a water bath, or a hedgehog scurrying around.  Perhaps you spotted a heron on the Nature reserve, or a seal playing off the beach.  Whatever is, why not enter it into our competition?

The closing date for this competition is the 30th of September 2026.  All entries must be submitted via email to [email protected] or by direct message to the editor on Facebook.  Each entry must be submitted by the parent, grand-parent or carer and include contact details of the adult, and the first-name & age of the child who has taken the photograph, the date of the photograph & the location where the photograph was taken.

We will contact the winner to discuss publicity of the entry. We hope to announce the winners in October and include them in the winter “Otter Life” magazine.  Winners will receive a £50 RSPB voucher, while each runner-up will receive a £25 voucher.  Photographs must be taken anywhere between Exmouth to Sidmouth and from Ottery St. Mary to Budleigh Salterton. 

The small print:

Photographs must be taken in the defined competition timeline (May 1st to September 30th).  Anyone who is a member of either the OVA Facebook group, or the OVA charity can take part. People can submit up to 5 photographs maximum. Judge’s decisions will be final. NO disturbance of habitats is allowed in the taking of pictures. Indeed, for certain species it is illegal to do this. Pictures will be judged in digital form.