Czech Nature Photo chooses winning entry, exhibition opens in Prague today

The winning entry of the 2023 Czech Nature Photo Competition was a snap of two bears fighting taken by Slovak photographer Miroslav Ondruš. The award was announced at the Czech Photo Center gallery in Prague 13 on Wednesday evening. Over 250 photographers from Czechia and Slovakia entered the competition, and an expert international jury chose the winner out of 2,400 other photos.

Ondruš, who works in forestry and sees photography as his hobby, said that his photo was taken in the middle of summer in a Slovakian mountain range. About to leave after spending the afternoon in the area, Ondruš suddenly spotted a male bear heading in his direction, followed by the sounds of other bears a few meters away.

The title of the winning submission is: “When the mother bear defends her young.” This was the seventh year of the Czech Nature Photo competition, which also featured entries from Czech school pupils. Some of their submissions are on display at the exit of the Nové Butovice metro station on the yellow B line.

Starting today, the Czech Photo Center gallery will exhibit selected entries from the 2023 Czech Nature Photo Competition as well as other award-winning photographs. You can find its location here.

In the “mammals” category of the Czech Nature Photo contest, Jaromír Daněk’s submission of two headbutting muskoxen and Matěj Šmucr’s vivid photo of a lion eating its prey came in second and third positions respectively.

The winning entry of the junior competition for high school students came from Eliška Panáčková, who submitted a photo of a blue-winged insect in the sunlight.

The competition also had other categories, including birds, amphibians, invertebrates, plants, and more. A full list of the winners – including the photos – is available on the official website. 

A participant in the Czech Nature Photo Competition (or other related events held by the Czech Photo organization) must prove that they are a professional photographer or enrolled in a photography-related educational course. You can find a full list of rules here.