Sustainability Photographer of the Year 2023: the winners

The Sustainable Photographer of the Year competition is a wonderful opportunity that engages many amateur photographers and nature lovers. It comes to remind us to stop, acknowledge and value our environment, and to embrace its beauty.

So often, our work to improve environmental sustainability makes us very aware of the degradation, danger and loss around us. Going outdoors and enjoying what we have and work to protect, helps in balancing the despondency we occasionally experience.

Visual storytelling is a powerful tool for change. The Sustainability Photographer of the Year Competition allows us to see sustainability come to life, through the camera lens of staff and students. Capturing visuals from across Oxfordshire that feature, wildlife, people and place. Balancing our sense of urgency to take environmental action with gratitude and awe for what we have and need to protect.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition.

We wish to thank the judging panel who were tasked with a difficult assignment to choose just a few from so many deserving nominations: Sarah Rhodes, Bodleian Social Science Library; Hannah Jones, Oxford Wildlife Photography and Filmmaking Society; and Grace Draskovic.

Winner

Alone on high, watching our weather change by Ian Curtis, School of Geography and the Environment, Development Officer

“Atop Oxford’s tallest building sits a Campbell-Stokes recorder. This beautiful glass sphere focuses the sun’s rays onto a record card in a way one can almost smell the burning. The Radcliffe Meteorological Station has the UK’s longest single-site weather observations; today’s bring new records as the climate changes, exemplifying the value of long-term science.”

A person with measuring equipment on a roof with Oxford city in the background.

Second place

Midsummer Meadow by Saadiyah Mayet, Green Templeton College, DPhil Health Data Science

“This quintessential summer scene in Port Meadow was captured in August 2022 at sunset. The horse grazes in the foreground amidst the wildflowers, and the sky is awash with a pink and lilac glow. A double rainbow, a rare and hopeful thing, stretches across the clouds. [...]. On the day this photo was taken, the sunset drew people from the neighbourhood to come and to marvel. This magical scene is a beacon of hope, not only in the peaceful coexistence of people and animals, but in the wider campaign for environmental sustainability."

A horse in a meadow with red sky and double rainbow.

Third place

Summer Radiance by Jake Dudderidge, Christ Church College, MBiol Biology

“A female Broad-Bodied Chaser Dragonfly in the spring sunshine, a glowing symbol of the wonder of the natural world. A beacon of hope for a sustainable future"