The Judges
Take a look at our wonderful panel of judges. This team will be sifting through all of the entries to determine who will be crowned the Bird Photographer of the Year.
Majed Al Za’abi
Kuwait
Majed is a multi award-winning photographer and a Nikon Ambassador. In 2020, he was the grand prize winner of Bird Photographer of the Year.
Melissa Groo
United States of America
Melissa Groo is a wildlife photographer, writer, and conservationist with a focus on the ethics of wildlife photography. She's an Associate Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.
Aaron Baggenstos
United States of America
Aaron Baggenstos is an acclaimed wildlife photographer and tour leader, renowned for his captivating, conservation-focused images worldwide.
Aparupa Dey
India
Aparupa is a wildlife photographer whose work has been published in renowned pages such as Nikon India, BBC, and Animal Planet. She has a keen eye for composition, believing this to be the sole of photography.
Rathika Ramasamy
India
Rathika is one of India’s foremost wildlife photographers. Specialising in birds, she has been published internationally and leads photo workshops and talks all over India.
Paul Sterry
United Kingdom
Paul is a best-selling author of photographically-illustrated wildlife field guides. A passion for bird photography led to him to found BPOTY and he continues to promote the competition’s conservation-orientated vison through its supportive relationship with the charity Birds on the Brink.
Andrew Cleave MBE
United Kingdom
Andrew, a biology teacher by training, is one of the founders of BPOTY, author and contributor to over 30 books on a wide range of natural history topics, and a busy wildlife tour leader in the UK and further afield. Andrew was appointed MBE for services to Environmental Education in 1995.
Will Nicholls
United Kingdom
Will is the Director of Bird POTY. He is a wildlife cameraman working in natural history television, with credits for BBC, AppleTV, Netflix, Disney+, and more. He specialises in working at height in the forest canopy. He has also been a stills photographer since 2007.