School Wildflower Meadow Photography Competition

The competition is back for 2026 and running from 20 April 2026 to 14 August 2026.

In 2019, Denbighshire County Council declared a climate and nature emergency with the aim to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss.

One of our first actions was to start managing some of our grassland for wildflower meadow creation across the county. The aim of the project is to restore and increase the amount of habitat available throughout the county for pollinators and wildlife. The project also brings many benefits or "ecosystem services" to residents in the county, such as reduced flooding, improved air quality, and air cooling.


Red Campion

What you need to do

  1. Take a photograph of one of our wildflower meadows, a school meadow or community nature reserve site. Your photo could be of the whole site or of a tiny part e.g. an insect or flower, whatever you feel makes the best photograph.
  2. Write something about your photo or find a quote that compliments your photo.

View wildflower meadow sites in Denbighshire (Map)

Winning entries

After the closing date (14 August 2026):

  • entries will be shortlisted, and the shortlisted entries will be judged by Councillor Barry Mellor (Lead Member for Environment and Transport).
  • the winning and shortlisted entries will be displayed on social media.
  • the winning images will be printed up to A2 size and hung on the walls outside the council chamber in Russell House, Rhyl.
  • there will be 3 winning entries each winning a selection of environmental books for their school.
  • the winners will be notified by 18 September 2026 and announced via social media on 24 October 2026.
  • the school with the most entries will also win a set of environmental books

Winners will receive:

  • A selection of environmental books for their school.
  • A smaller version of the image will be available for the winner to put up at home or school.

Tips for photos

Tips for taking photos for this competition: 

  • find a quiet place to sit in nature
  • try to be still so the environment around you gets used to your presence
  • think about what you can see, hear, touch and smell
  • after being still for a while and absorbing the area around you, you may be inspired to take a photograph of something which was not initially obvious to you.
  • we are only allowing one entry per person, so take your time, take a few pictures and pick your favourite.

Tips for writing about your photo

You could:

  • let us know why you like or what is important about the meadows
  • how does your photo or being in the meadow make you feel
  • what would you like others to know about the meadows
  • is there a quote that you think would look good with your photo or you feel describes it well

Try to keep your text to one or two sentences as it needs to fit on the printed photo.

Entries must:

  • be taken in Denbighshire
  • be taken of one of Denbighshire’s wildflower meadow sites (identified by the Bee Friendly sign, a school wildflower meadow or a community nature reserve site).
  • include only native wild animals, insects, or plants
  • not include - any identifiable human, non-native wildlife, domestic animals or livestock (sheep/cows etc)

Competition rules

The competition rules are:

  • only one entry per person
  • the photograph must have been taken within Denbighshire
  • competition will run from 20 April 2026 until 14 August 2026
  • the person entering must be between 5 and 18 years old
  • the person entering must be the photographer and hold full rights to the photograph (See Image rights).
  • the photograph must have been taken on Denbighshire County Council land
  • entries must be submitted in digital JPEG format.
  • entries must be no larger than 10 MB in file size (and ideally bigger than 2MB so they can be enlarged).
  • it is the responsibility of the entrant to ensure that each entry meets with these rules by saving the files with no watermarks, stencil, borders, or signatures on the Image file itself

Image rights

Information about image rights:

  • all Images must be in the sole and exclusive ownership of the Entrant and must not infringe on the copyright of any other party.
  • the copyright in respect of each Image will remain with the copyright owner before and after submission to the Competition
  • the owner of the copyright will be credited in any instance of publication in any media form (including print, web and social media) using their name on the format as provided by that Entrant in their submission(s).

Enter the competition

Entries for this competition can be submitted online.

Enter the School Wildflower Meadow Photography Competition online

Related pages