Jamie was the youngest ever overall winner in 2023
A nine-year-old from Wales has won FOUR categories in the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2024 as the charity marks its historic 200th year anniversary.
Jamie Smart, nine, from Llandrindod Wells in Powys, Mid Wales, won the Pet Portraits category with her image ‘Not Impressed’ which shows her 13-year-old cat Humbug. She also secured the top spot in the new Better World category with her image ‘Ready for bed’ which features an owl, her ‘City fisher’ photo of a kingfisher in the city won her the City Life category and ‘Rise of the Gannet’ won the Under 12s.
The prestigious RSPCA Young Photographer Awards invites young people aged 18 years and under to capture the animal kingdom on a camera or a mobile device and supports the RSPCA’s mission to inspire everyone to create a better world for every animal. The awards were announced at a ceremony held at the Tower of London today (Thursday 19 December 2024).
Jamie was the youngest ever winner of the RSPCA photography competition last year and this year has seen a whopping eight images shortlisted.
Jamie, who has her own website Eagle Eyed Girl, said: “To be shortlisted for the YPAs three times in a row is mindblowing and winning last year has had a big impact on me. I aimed to win overall and then I did, so I put a lot of hard work into it. It was amazing to win! It made me want to enter again and take more photos and try new things.
“I’d love to be a wildlife photographer and presenter one day, that’s my dream job. I like showing the different sides to wildlife, the cute side but also what they have to go through. I want to inspire people to fall in love with animals and to protect them.
“The more people who are inspired by wildlife the more they will want to protect them and that’s the key to my photography.”
All entries are judged entirely anonymously which makes Jamie’s multiple successes this year even more of an achievement.
Sponsors of the competition are Natures Images(wildlife photography holidays) and Camtraptions(camera traps for wildlife photography).
To mark the charity’s 200th birthday, the RSPCA added two new categories – ‘Better World’ which portray what a better world for animals looks like, and ‘City Life’ – which highlights how animals are all around us even where we least expect them and to show how we can live harmoniously together.
This year’s awards were judged by a panel of photography experts, including wildlife photographer Rachel Bigsby; former competition winner-turned-professional photographer Catriona Parfitt; professional wildlife photographer and photographic guide Ellie Rothnie; and RSPCA photographers Andrew Forsyth and Emma Jacobs. And for the first time this year – Fabian Rivers, also known as Dready Vet, who’s an exotic animal and wildlife vet and RSPCA ambassador and appears on CBBC’s The Pets Factor.
Anwen Whitehead, 15, also from Mid Wales, was the overall winner this year with her image of a Puffin entitled ‘Daydreaming in the chamomiles’.
Winners in each category were awarded trophies and a selection of prizes at the Tower of London ceremony and as the Overall Winner, Anwen Whitehead received a weekend photography break with Natures Images.
The RSPCA Young Photographer Awards 2025 opens for entries on 6 May. For more information visit: rspca.org.uk/ypafor all the latest news, galleries and photo tips.
Email: ypa25@rspca.org.ukto join the mailing list and be the first to know when the competition opens.
To watch a recording of the ceremony visit: https://young.rspca.org.uk/home
The full gallery of all the winning images can be viewed here.
Ends.
Notes to editors:Images can be downloaded here https://rspca.quatrix.it/download/7df83dc3-15f6-4d2b-a2e8-efe4df196a5d
Full winning images below
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Winner |
Image |
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Overall winner
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Pet Portraits
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Pet Personalities – Austin Lake, age 13 from Devon ‘ A Perch With a View’ |
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Small World – Chris Wardell, age 18 from Wiltshire, ‘A Spider Silhouetted in the Reflection of the Rising Sun’ |
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Under 12 mobile – Arlo Rautenbach, age 10 from Cornwall, ‘Slippery Slow Worm’ |
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12-15 mobile – Nathaniel Gingell, age 14 from Hampshire, ‘Dot and her friends’ |
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16-18 mobile – Daisy Pipe, age 16 from Dorset, ‘The tomato wasp’ |
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Better World – Jamie Smart, nine, Llandrindo Wells, Wales, ‘Ready for Bed’ |
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City Life – Jamie Smart, nine, Llandrindo Wells, Wales, ‘City fisher’ |
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Under 12 – Jamie Smart, nine, Llandrindo Wells, Wales, ‘Rise of the Gannet’ |
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16-18 – Anton Poon, 17, from Buckinghamshire , ‘Autumn Daydream’ |
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Portfolio – Chris Wardell, age 18 from Wiltshire, ‘Foxes in Backlit Motif’ |
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