Wildscreen ARK Competition Impact & Round-Up
12 finalists of Wildscreen ARK’s 2024 Youth Film and Photography Competition were celebrated at a special event, hosted by Steve Backshall, during last month’s Wildscreen Festival 2024.
News archive
Looking back on Wildscreen Festival 2024
“Last week over 2,000+ storytellers from over 60+ countries joined us for Wildscreen Festival 2024. The biggest global gathering of natural world storytellers in the world. And what a week it was.”
Introducing the Wildpitch 2024 Finalists
Wildscreen has revealed the 9 projects from wildlife and environmental filmmakers around the world to be pitched at Wildscreen Festival 2024 next week.
Wildscreen ARK Competition Impact & Round-Up
12 finalists of Wildscreen ARK’s 2024 Youth Film and Photography Competition were celebrated at a special event, hosted by Steve Backshall, during last month’s Wildscreen Festival 2024. Finalists’ entries were available to view at a special photography exhibition at College Green, Bristol, from 22nd October – 7th November and are now published on Wildscreen ARK.
Open to young people aged 13 – 18, the Youth Film and Photography Competition ran throughout the summer, with the support of the West of England Combined Authority. Judged by a panel of expert young wildlife filmmakers and activists, the winners were announced in a special event hosted at BBC Studios in Bristol.
The 13 – 15 category was won by Joel Clements, of Bristol, with his wonderful close-up of a sea slater – receiving a winter lights stay at Bluestone Luxury National Park Resort for him and his family.
“I was at Clevedon beach having a walk one evening when I saw these weird woodlouse things and we didn’t know what they were. When I got home we looked them up and they are called sea slaters (Ligia oceanica)”.
The finalists went to great length to understand and appreciate the species that they captured, as well as using new techniques.
“We went back another evening and I used my iPhone with a clip-on macro lens attached to it. I turned over lots of rocks to find one and when I did – I had to wait for it to stop running around”
The winner of the 16 – 18 category was Amy Tucker, of Bristol, for her emotive shot of an injured seven-spot ladybird – receiving a Canon EOSR100 camera and lens from London Camera Exchange.
“Taking part in this wildlife photography competition was such an amazing opportunity, especially because I got to meet Steve Backshall! I loved capturing nature with just my phone, and having my photo displayed on College Green in my community was a huge honour”.
“Winning the Wildscreen Ark competition has made me feel more connected to nature and inspired to keep looking for those amazing moments outdoors”.
It’s fantastic to hear the lasting impact of the competition from those who took part, we hope that all those who entered now see nature from a new perspective.
The finalists certainly weren’t short of material to shoot – the wildlife featured in entries ranged from humble mallards to obscure seashore creepy crawlies and plants, pushing the boundaries of what is possible with a teenager’s phone.
“It’s incredible how much you can capture with just a bit of patience and the right angle!” – Amy.
To view the ten other finalists of the competition head to Wildscreen ARK via the competition linktree at https://linktr.ee/wildscreenARK
