Recognizing the value pollinators provide to humans and our ecosystem, Penguin Court, a preserve of the Brandywine Conservancy, and the Westmoreland Pollinator Partners, a consortium of over two dozen gardens in Westmoreland County that promote and protect pollinators, are pleased to announce the fifth annual Pennsylvania Pollinator Photo Challenge.
Open to the public, this contest accepts submissions from people of all ages. There is not a separate category for youth entries this year. Images must include a pollinator found and photographed in Pennsylvania, such as bees, beetles, butterflies, flies, hummingbirds, moths, or wasps in any of their life stages. Photos of people hand-pollinating plants will be considered, too; however, the person must provide written consent if they are identifiable in the image. Please do not include photographs of pollinators taken in conservatories, butterfly houses, and the like. We want to promote native pollinators.
A person may submit a maximum of three entries, which must be submitted electronically by August 3, 2025. First, second, and third place winners, as well as honorable mentions, will be announced at the “Monarchs, Milkweed, and More” event on Sunday, August 17, 2025 at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Ligonier. Additionally, a first-place prize will be awarded to the person who takes the best photograph of a native bee (honey bees are not native to the USA), in any of its life stages, since Westmoreland Pollinator Partners deemed 2025 the “Year of the Native Bee.”
Additional rules and regulations, judging criteria, and more may be found below.
Winners from the 2025 contest are below
1st Place – Thomas Kalina, Garnet Valley
2nd Place – Dan Tieri, Downington
3rd Place – D. Suzanne Evans, Elizabeth
1st Place Native Bee Category – Thomas Kalina, Garnet Valley
View all entries
Prize Sponsors
The “Westmoreland Pollinator Partners: Native Bees are Key” project, which supports the “Pennsylvania Pollinator Photo Challenge” and “Monarchs, Milkweed and More” event is financed in part by a grant from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program Environmental Stewardship Fund under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and conservation administered through the Pennsylvania Environmental Council’s Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape mini-grant program.