2020 National Trust Handbook photography competition

We're searching for an image that shows how places can make you feel good. Enter our photography competition and be in with a chance of having your photo featured on the cover of our 2020 Handbook and winning £1,500 worth of credit to spend on National Trust holiday cottages.

Could you be the person to take the picture that captivates more than five million National Trust members?

The competition is open to both amateurs and professionals, and runs from Wednesday 1 May 2019 to 23:59 on Sunday 1 September 2019. Entries should be submitted by email (below). Guest judge, naturalist Simon King, will be on the panel that will choose the winning photo to feature on the cover of the Handbook. This will be published in 2020, as we celebrate our 125th anniversary. 

Read the competition rules and send us your pictures below

The winning photo will need to show how the countryside and landscaped gardens or historic houses we look after can spark adventure, inspire us and change the way we feel. 

What to submit

Your photo must be:

  • taken at a National Trust place in 2019

  • landscape format (not portrait)

  • in full colour (not black and white)

  • 300 dpi and sent as a jpeg file no bigger than 10MB

  • sent as an attachment (not embedded in an email)

You must:

  • only send up to 10 photos

  • reflect the theme of 'places that make you feel good'

  • get written consent from the people in your photos

  • make sure the focal point of your photo is on the right-hand side

  • read the full competition rules, linked to below.

Please read the rules of the competition before submitting your entries
 

Handbook cover guidance 

Photos taken for the cover must be in landscape format to wrap around the handbook. The focal point of the photograph should be on the right hand side. Take a look at the diagram below to see how to compose your shots. 

The winning image will wrap around the Handbook
The winning image will wrap around the Handbook
The winning image will wrap around the Handbook
" The British Isles are blessed with some of the most diverse and magnificent wild landscapes to be found on the planet"
- Simon King, naturalist and guest judge

The winner will be selected by the judging panel and announced in November.

Guest judge Simon King, who is a naturalist and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, said: 'The British Isles are blessed with some of the most diverse and magnificent wild landscapes to be found on the planet, from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland to Cumbria’s lakes and fells.

'This photographic competition is a chance for people to showcase the immeasurable value that these places represent: from battling the devastating effects of climate change by the preservation of healthy green spaces, to aiding the personal wellbeing of each and every one of us that finds peace, wonder and solace in the natural world.'

Prizes

The winner will not only get to see their image on the front cover of the 2020 Handbook, they will also win £1,500 worth of credit to spend on National Trust holiday cottages. The runner-up will win £500 worth of credit to spend on National Trust holiday cottages. From turreted towers and lighthouses, to listed lodges and country mansions, our holiday cottages are a magical way to experience the countryside across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Read the competition rules now and submit your photos 

Jumping the waves at Murlough National Nature Reserve. Competition entry from Paul McCartan

Competition rules  



Please read our competition rules carefully before you send us your photos.

Read the rules

Pictures of places that make you feel good

For this year's competition theme we're looking for standout images of 'places that make you feel good.' What's it like being in your favourite place? Can you capture the exhilaration of a mountain climb or waves crashing on the rocks? Or a moment of peace felt canoeing around a lake, exploring a quiet forest or having the sun on your face in a rose garden?