3rd Place – Polar Bears – Rob Julien – Fall Dual Lodge Safari – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge and Seal River Heritage Lodge
The 14th Annual Churchill Wild Guest Photo Contest is now open for entries!
Our annual photo contest allows us to recognize and showcase the talented photographers who join us on our polar bear safaris each year and is open to all guests who visited the Churchill Wild polar bear lodges in 2025. You’ve shared your photographs with family and friends and we now invite you to share them with us. Whether you’re a hobbyist or a pro, we welcome your entries!
We’ve set up five categories, with prizes including a gift certificate toward a Churchill Wild safari and a B&H Photo gift card. The People’s Choice award will be returning this year! After the submission deadline on April 10th, we’ll open up voting, allowing you to cast one vote per day for your favourite photo. Winners will be announced on April 17th.
As Ansel Adams once said, “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” We couldn’t agree more, but there are a few rules for this contest below. Need inspiration? Check out last years winners here.
3rd Place – Polar Bear – Christoph Jansen – Polar Bear Photo Safari – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
HOW TO ENTER
Please read through our rules and guidelines below and submit your photo(s) HERE or if you don’t have a Google account: contest@churchillwild.com, by April 10th, 2026 to be eligible for judging.
CATEGORIES
- Polar Bear
- Other Wildlife
- Landscape
- Lodge Interior or Exterior
- People’s Choice
Honourable Mention – Other Wildlife – Teresa McDaniel – Hudson Bay Odyssey – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
PRIZES (to be awarded in each category)
- First Place | $1,500.00 CAD Gift Certificate* plus a $150 B&H Photo gift card.
- Second Place | $1,000.00 CAD Gift Certificate* plus a $75 B&H Photo gift card.
- Third Place | $750.00 CAD Gift Certificate* plus a $50 B&H Photo gift card.
1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes will be awarded in each category. *Towards a Churchill Wild Safari
1st Place – Other Wildlife – Craig Iseli – Cloud Wolves of the Kaska Coast – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
REDEEMING PRIZES
- Winners may transfer their gift certificate to a family member or friend if they wish.
- Prizes cannot be redeemed for cash.
- Usage of gift certificates subject to availability.
- Cannot be combined with any other discount and no commissions will apply.
- Must be applied to a 2026, 2027, or 2028 trip.
- Remaining balance is due 90 days prior to departure and will be invoiced by Churchill Wild in due course.
2nd Place – Other Wildlife – Eric Esterle – Polar Bear Photo Safari – Seal River Heritage Lodge
RULES and GUIDELINES for ENTRIES
- Only guests who visited a Churchill Wild lodge in 2025 are eligible to enter the contest.
- All photos submitted must have been taken on a Churchill Wild safari during the 2025 season.
- If you’re not using the Google Form and instead submitting your photos to contest@churchillwild.com, please make sure all entries are labelled with the photographer’s NAME and the CATEGORY into which it is being entered.
- Contest entries will be accepted until April, 10th 2026.
- You may submit ONE photo per category.
- By entering this contest, you are acknowledging that Churchill Wild reserves the right to use your images for promotional purposes. Photo credit will be given whenever your photos are used.
1st Place – Fabienne Jansen – Lodge – Polar Bear Photo Safari – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
PHOTO SPECIFICATIONS
- Photos may not be cropped (zoomed in) by more than 10% to give a fair indication of what the original shot looked like.
- Photos will be judged on the basis of composition, light, colour, sharpness, creativity and human interest. Post-processing is expected from DSLR entries but photos should not be over-processed.
- Do not add text to photos. Failure to comply will exclude your submission from the contest.
- Submitted images should be at least 1500 pixels (on the long side) at minimum 72 dpi to allow for a fair comparison between images.
- All files should be in .JPG format.
1st Place – John Donelson – Interior/Exterior – Polar Bear Photo Safari – Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge
ATTN: GROUP LEADERS
If you were the leader for a group of guests in 2025, please forward this notice to them to ensure they have the opportunity to enter the contest.
Contest closes April 10th, 2026. Winners will be announced on April 17nd, 2026.
