North American Butterfly Association
Art and Photo Contests
NABA holds art and photo contests biennially. The Butterfly Art of the Year Contest is held in
odd-numbered years and the Butterfly Photo of the Year Contest is held in even-numbered years. Details are given below.x
NABA Art Contest
The next NABA Art Contest will be held in 2023. Artists interested in entering the contest should submit digital images of original two-dimensional color "paintings," in any medium. The digital file name should include the artist's name (last name first), should be from two to five MB, and should be sent to naba@naba.org. Higher resolution images will be requested, if needed.If realistic, the painting should depict species found in Mexico, the United States. or Canada. In your cover letter, please indicate the dimensions of the original work, give a description of the medium of the work, and provide a release granting to NABA the right to copy and publish the image. Please include a telephone number and email address where you can be reached and state the city or town in which you live. Entries need to be received not later than July 1, 2023. Winning artist will receive a prize of $500, 2nd place winner will receive $125 and winners and honorable mentions will have their works published in color in the Fall 2023 issue of American Butterflies. All decisions of the judges are final.
Again, send your entries (maximum of three) to: naba@naba.org. Please include a telephone number and mailing address in case you win.
NABA Photography Contest
The following information is the most current available but is subject to change in 2022. The next NABA Photography Contest will be held in 2024. The winner will receive $300 and the 1st runner-up will receive $100. Winning entries will be published in American Butterflies. Photographs of adults must be of free-flying, unrestrained butterflies taken in the field (not in a butterfly zoo), in Canada, the United States, or Mexico.
Photographs of immatures must be of eggs, caterpillars or chrysalises taken in the field, or, at a location (e.g., one’s house or laboratory) within 20 miles of where the eggs or caterpillars were obtained. Submissions, which must be received by June 30, 2024, should be in the form of digital images, sent as high-resolution jpeg files to naba@naba.org. Please include the photographer’s name in the file name. Please limit your submissions to three images (only the first three images received, per entrant, will be considered).
Entries must be accompanied by a signed statement giving NABA the right to copy and publish the photographs, both in print and digital form, and vouching that the photographs, if taken of adults, were taken in the field, of free-flying, unmanipulated butterflies. If of immatures, the photographer’s statement must vouch that the immatures were either photographed in the wild; or within 20 miles of where found and if removed from the wild that they were reared through to adults (or attempted to rear through to adults) and released where they were found.
Please include detailed information about when and where the photographs were taken, as well as camera, lens, flash, film, and setting information — to the extent known. Please include a telephone number and an email address where you can be reached. Again, send your entries (maximum of three) to: naba@naba.org. Please include a telephone number and mailing address in case you win.