The theme for the competition held in July-August 2017 was "Capturing the Light".  Ultimately, light is what photography is all about, and for this competition, we ask you to submit images that show a bird, or birds, where the light - its colour, strength, direction, quality - contributes substantially towards the overall appearance of the subject.   If you need a little inspiration, you could have a browse through Georgina Steytler's e-book which won the 2017 Tom Oliver Award - it's available here.

The results of member voting for the top 5 images in each category are listed here.  In line with many other bird/wildlife photo competitions, we present the results in the following manner: the Winner is the image which received the most votes; and we also show the next four highest placed images, rating them as Highly Commended if they received at least 90% of the votes for the winning image, and Commended for scores less than that.

Advanced Level – Capturing the Light

This category attracted 60 entries, from 21 photographers. 42 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Black-necked Stork, by Georgina Steytler (Image no longer available)
• Highly Commended - Australian Wood Duck, by Glenn Pure (Image ID 26823)
• Commended - Great Egret, by Craig Greer (Image ID 26565)
• Commended - Pacific Black Duck, by Ian Wilson (Image ID 26845)
• Commended - Southern Emu-wren, by Ian Wilson (Image ID 26820)

Intermediate Level – Capturing the Light

This category attracted 108 entries, from 36 photographers. 39 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner (tied) - White-faced Heron, by Doug Castle (Image ID 26658)
• Winner (tied) - Pacific Black Duck, by Adam Higgins (Image ID 26801)
• Highly Commended - Scarlet Robin, by Simon Pelling (Image ID 26767)
• Commended - Victoria's Riflebird, by Sandy Castle (Image ID 26657)
• Commended - Australasian Grebe, by William Betts (Image ID 26907)

Entry Level – Capturing the Light

This category attracted 37 entries, from 12 photographers. 34 members voted, with the following result:

• Winner - Great Egret, by Anne Burgess (Image ID 26927)
• Highly Commended - Yellow-billed Spoonbill, by Mal Carnegie (Image ID 26969)
• Commended - Brown Goshawk, by Deanne Gaskill (Image ID 26940)
• Commended - Common Bronzewing, by William Woodhouse (Image ID 26956)
• Commended - Australian Pelican, by Deanne Gaskill (Image ID 26920)