Enter the Spring Habitat at Home Photo Contest!
Show us the wild things where you live.
This spring, we hope you’re seeing lots of nature right where you live… and that you’ll share some of these special moments in our third annual spring Habitat at Home photo contest.
Nature isn’t something that just belongs in parks and nature preserves. If you have a garden, a yard, some woods, a stream, school grounds, or some neighborhood green space, you can create space for wild things to live. And if you grow it, they will come!
Show us what you’re doing and what you’re seeing around your home this spring. Share a photo of your kids planting a tree. Or bees bustling around in your flowers. Or just keep your eyes open and your camera ready. In past contests, people have shared photos of bobcats, bear, deer, turkey, hawks, grasshoppers, butterflies, turtles, frog eggs, tadpoles and much more.
How to Enter the 2022 Habitat at Home Photo Contest
You can submit photos or videos. To be eligible for prizes and shout-outs, your entry:
- Must be taken in 2022
- Must be submitted between Apr. 1 – May 15, 2022
- Must feature one or more of these subjects:
- Native plants
- Projects to improve wildlife habitat
- Wildlife that you see at your home or in your community. Wildlife includes both small and large animals, from bugs to bears.
- Must be taken at your home or your community. For example, photos may come from a school, community garden, or house of worship. We’re looking for photos that were NOT taken in parks, nature preserves, or protected areas.
- Must be taken in one of these counties:
- In NC: Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Polk, Rutherford, or Transylvania Counties
- In SC: Greenville, Oconee, Pickens, or Spartanburg Counties
To enter, submit your photo or video on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #habitatathome2022. You must make it a public post.
If you are not on social media, you may submit contest entries by emailing them to [email protected]
When you post, please share where the photo or video was taken.
Youth entries are encouraged! Please let us know if your photo is a youth entry.
Conserving Carolina’s staff, board, and AmeriCorps members and their immediate family may share photos in the contest but are not eligible to win prizes.
You may enter as many times as you like between April 1 and May 15.
Conserving Carolina may share your photo or video in connection with the contest, with credit to you as the creator.
Empowering and Joyful
The Habitat at Home contest encourages people to celebrate the nature around their home—and to actively restore habitat for wild things.
We’re inspired by local farmer and educator, Kim Bailey, who says, “Planting a seed is one of the most hopeful things you can do. And when you get the plant and the butterfly actually comes and lays her eggs on it or uses it for nectar, you see, ‘It worked!’ You’re asking people to do something that helps the environment but you’re also giving them a way to experience joy and beauty… Everyone wants to do something to help, but it’s a happy thing that you’re doing and it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. It’s contagious. It’s an empowering thing and it’s a joyful thing.”
How to Win the Photo Contest
1. Earn Shout Outs
Conserving Carolina will be recognizing outstanding entries with online shout-outs throughout the contest period. You don’t have to be a world-class photographer to earn a shout-out. Our staff will be giving shout-outs to entries that impress us as:
- Great Habitat at Home projects: Show us what you’re doing to improve habitat where you live. This can include before-and-after pictures; “before” pics may be taken prior to the contest timeframe.
- Special Wildlife Encounters: Capture a visit from an animal that is rare, beautiful, unusual, or impressive.
- Outstanding Video Entries: Show us wildlife in action.
- Outstanding Youth Entries: Remarkable photos or videos by children or teenagers may earn a shout out. Please let us know if your photo or video should be considered a youth entry.
Shout-outs don’t come with prizes—just props. We’ll share your awesome photo or video on our social media channels, with credit to you as the photographer.
Conserving Carolina staff and AmeriCorps members will decide which entries merit a shout-out. These decisions are separate from the selection of contest finalists made by our panel of outside judges.
2. Win Prizes
After the contest deadline of May 15, a panel of judges, including experts in photography and gardening, will select five finalists. Finalists will be chosen based on these criteria:
- Striking subject matter in keeping with the theme of “Habitat at Home”
- Artistic merit
After the finalists are announced, there will be a week of online voting. All finalists will receive garden-themed prizes, donated by local businesses. The winner of the online voting will be the grand prize winner.
All finalists will also win one of the following prizes:
- Native perennials in 1 gallon pots donated by New Leaf Garden Market
- A $30 gift card to Raymond’s Garden Center in Hendersonville
- Native plants from Milkweed Meadows Farm
Thank you to all of the local businesses who donated these contest prizes!
Thank You for Celebrating Habitat at Home!
Thank you for improving wildlife habitat where you live and for inspiring others to do the same! We are so excited to see the beautiful and wondrous things happening at your place.
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