The picture of a Scorpion Fly has won the Hidden Britain category of the British Wildlife Photography Award (BWPA). Two other pictures, one showing the image of three skipper butterflies while the other showing a Four-spotted Orbweaver earned the “highly recommended” rating.

The overall BWPA winner is a picture of a jellyfish billed as “a truly beautiful shot” that “perfectly captures its iridescent colours and magical qualities.”

Macro photographs also dominated the British Seasons category and are strongly represented in other categories.

The prize for the winner is attractive but as some people say — including myself — joining a photography competition is not always about winning. It’s about pushing yourself to take pictures you think worthy of the competition. It’s the journey you have taken to take the photos that matters. Winning is a bonus!

One Life : A Photography Competition from Artists Wanted on Vimeo.

Enter the competition, here. The closing date is on July 29, 2011.

Who is qualified to enter? Anyone 18 and older from anywhere in the world!

The call for entries says, “We are looking for all types of digital and film photography, including (and definitely not limited to): Fashion, Landscape, Travel, Candid, Digitally Manipulated, Artistic / Conceptual, Self-Portrait, Wedding and more! We are looking for compelling images that tell stories as you envision them.”

World Wildlife Fund for Nature or WWF is calling for entries for a photography competition in conjunction with its 50th anniversary. The photography contest is open to residents of the United States only. Submission was opened on April 11 and ends on June 17, plenty of time still to plan your photographs.

Dragonfly Wing

Enter the competition here. The theme is “Life Grows On” and you can submit up to 15 entries. Be sure to check the competition rules, here (requires PDF).

So you think you have shot the best macro photograph in your life? Why not sent it to Amateur Photographer of the Year 2011 competition for the “Macro in Nature” category. The contest runs between May 7-27. The photography contest, organised by Amateur Photographer UK in association with Canon, accepts international entries.

Bokeh ... macro's best friend

That means you and I are eligible to participate. The rules did not say photos must be shot with a Canon camera.

Too common ... this one won't win any prize

No marks for the busy background

Here are the prizes: the winner will receive a Canon EOS 600D with the EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens to boot while the first runner-up will receive a Canon 12.1-million-pixel IXUS 310 HS in silver, a Canon Pixma MG6150 Wi-Fi-enabled all-in-one printer, and a 20-sheet pack of Canon’s A4 PP-201 Photo Paper Plus Glossy II paper. Nice!

A Canon PowerShot SX220 HS in grey awaits the second runner-up.

Be sure to read the competition’s rules, here.

You think you have shot the natural world in a way never quite seen before? Or, can you shoot the natural world like it’s never been shot before? Then you are invited to take part in the this year’s Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. The 2011 competition, the 47th edition, is now open and runs until March 18, 2011.

There are various categories, namely animals in their Environment, Behaviour: Birds, Behaviour: Mammals, Behaviour: All Other Animals, Underwater World, Animal Portraits, In Praise of Plants and Fungi, Urban Wildlife, Nature in Black and White, among others.

Enter the competitio at Natural History Museum website. This is the photo that was named the overall winner last year.

Have a heart. A microscopic picture of a mosquito heart, magnified 100 times, has won the Nikon Small World photography competition, beating a record 2,200 entries this year.

The photograph by Jonas King, a researcher from the Vanderbilt University, Department of Biological Sciences, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, was taken using the fluorescence microscopy technique and technology.

Mosquito heart... Photo credit: Nikon Small World

The 2010 edition of the National Geography Photo Contest is now open for submission. If you have photographs of people, places and nature which are of National Geographic proportions, you can send them in and win US$10,000. Your winning entry will also be published in National Geographic magazine.

National Geographic says photos will be judged on creativity and photographic quality. The contest opened on September 16 and ends on November 30. Winners will be announced in early December. Go to the contest’s website for more information.

What it takes to be a winner of this competition? Here are the winners of previous National Geographic photography competitions.

The annual “Canon Photography in the Parks” photography contest is now open, from May 17 through Sept 30, 2010.

The theme for this year’s photography competition is “Nature”, and divided into two categories namely the teen division, for entrants ages 13-17 and the adult division, for entrants ages 18 and older. A contestant can submit up to 10 photographs but they must be taken at parks or monuments in the United States.

Further information is available at Canon Photography in the Parks website.

Lensbaby is running a contest to design, or rather, redesign its creative aperture kit. The contest open on April 30 and closes on June 11. The winning design will be announced on June 18.

The current kit has only the shapes of heart and star and Lensbaby says, “We can get way more creative than just the heart and star.”

WIIFM? What’s in it for me? Well, if your design is compelling enough, they will be manufactured by Lensbaby. More on the contest here.

Only Lensbaby users are eligible for the contest though if I read the contest regulation correctly: “Use your extra blank aperture disks or buy the Creative Aperture Kit Blanks and experiment with shapes using craft store punches or an xacto knife.”

Only Lensbaby users will have the extra blank aperture disks.

As for me, I’m still torn between a Lensbaby Composer (Pentax Mount) and a lot of other equipment — a sturdy ballhead tripod, a flashgun, a macro ring light, an underwater compact camera — which I plan to acquire this year. I can only choose one of these, though.

You know how it is. My piggy bank is huge but there’s very little in it

British Wildlife Photography Competition is now open offering a total cash prizes of £20,000 or about US$30,660.

The competition is open to all on conditions that all images must have been taken in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands except exotic wildlife in British zoos, safari parks or similar locations.

Would you be allowed to post-process images before submitting for the competition? Yes, but limited to adjustments to contrast, exposure, colour, sharpening and removal of dust marks. Addition and subtraction of objects is a no-no.

The competition is divided into 10 categories: Animal Behavior
, Urban Wildlife
, Hidden Britain, Coast and Marine, Wildlife in my Back Yard, Habitat, British Seasons, International Year of Biodoversity, and The 2020VISION Special Award. [Press Release, via ePHOTOzine]

Check out the competition here at the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2010 website.