Longtime Artists' Bill of Rights supporter, Scottish Nature Photography Awards, celebrates nature, wildlife and landscape photography in Scotland.

The Scottish Nature Photography Awards Photographic Competition 2016 is open to professional and amateur photographers from around the world, but images must be taken in Scotland.

Entries close 24:00 hours GMT on Wednesday 30th November 2016.

This is the 7th annual competition to seek the Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year. The categories are:

Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year 2016

• Scottish Wildlife Portrait
• Scottish Wildlife Behaviour
• Scottish Landscape - Sea & Coast
• Scottish Landscape - The Land
• Scottish Landscape - Urban Greenspace
• Scottish Botanical
• Natural Abstract
• Environmental

A new Artists' Bill of Rights adopter, The Photo Competition to Brand Brum, awaits your entry!

Gas Street, ©Verity MilliganThis challenge is open for all Midlands amateur and professional photographers to capture Birmingham’s brand, and we are pleased that ORB and Retail Birmingham, sponsors of the competition, adopted and now support the Artists' Bill of Rights principles.

Birmingham branding agency, ORB, presents this competition in partnership with Retail Birmingham for amateur and professional photographers across the Midlands to take up to 10 photos that tell the story of Birmingham and convey what the city means to them.

The competition is part of ORB’s mission to champion Birmingham’s talent and encourage more local business leaders to recruit and invest locally in the city’s creative industries, rather than looking to London or overseas.

Launched on World Photography Day (August 19th), photographers capturing the city, its people and its spirit in their series of pictures can win £1,000 of camera equipment, courtesy of Retail Birmingham and shoppinginbirmingham.com, as well as have the chance to work alongside former Sony World Advertising Photographer of the Year Martin Brent.

Judging the competition alongside Brent will be Chief Executive of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Paul Faulkner; Co-Founder & Director of Impact Hub Birmingham, Immy Kaur; Retail Birmingham BID Manager, Steve Hewlett; Former Editor of the Birmingham Post, Stacey Barnfield; renowned Birmingham photographer, Verity Milligan and Founder of ORB Branding agency, Rob Bloxham.

Renaissance Photography Prize is an international award that showcases outstanding photography from emerging and established photographers while raising funds to support young women with breast cancer. The annual prize discovers talent and celebrates the best in photography, giving image makers access to new opportunities and a world-wide audience for their work.

With judges from Tate Modern, Foam, the Guardian and many more, entering gives photographers the chance to have their work seen by a panel of some of the industry's most influential photography critics. All finalists will be exhibited at Getty Images Gallery in London, UK.

by ABoR guest writer, Elspeth Rushbrook

These prey a little on the hopes of every aspirant who’s not yet found a publishing deal.

Surely a £15-25 entry fee is a snip compared with the prize money and the joy of being published at last, and by a real publisher?

Well, I’m going to argue the reverse. Not that there shouldn’t be competitions, for artists of all kinds can gain recognition and attention and some money through these.

It’s the size of the fee and the terms which I object to. And how they’re choosing.

Sorry these are all British, but I hope that international readers will find the points helpful and maybe someone else can review other countries?

The Daily Mail − beloved British tattling and moral majority rag for over a century − recently closed its 9th annual comp. Did it gain a copy of my forthcoming Parallel Spirals? Nope, and I’ll tell you why.

One, being associated with the Mail is not something I wanted for me and my work. I don’t believe in its editorial policies. I doubt too that many of its readers will be mine.