The Slovenian Museum of Natural History is announcing a photography competition
PLANTS FROM THE KARST TO THE MOUNTAIN PEAKS
The flora of Slovenia is extremely diverse, as four large natural geographical units meet on its territory: the Alps, the Dinaric Mountains, the Mediterranean, and the Pannonian Plain. There are as many as 4,000 plant species (seeds, ferns, and mosses) native to Slovenia. A good sixth of these can be admired in the Julian Alpine Botanical Garden in Trenta, where around 700 species of ferns and seeds thrive. Most of these are plants from the Alps and their foothills and dry karst meadows, but there are also some rare species from other parts of Slovenia. The plants you encounter on your travels through Slovenia are the central theme of the photography competition. This time, they will not be overshadowed by animals, but will take centre stage. We invite you to photograph native plants during your walks through meadows and forests, in gorges or on mountain trails, and to present them in their best light.
RULES OF PARTICIPATION
The competition is open to primary school pupils, secondary school pupils, and students. Participation is free of charge for all participants. You can participate in four age categories.
Age categories:
I. category: ages 10 to 14.
II. category: ages 15 to 17.
III. category: ages 18 to 25.
Submitted photographs must be entirely the original work of the participants. By submitting photographs, each author guarantees that the work is their own, that they agree to the terms and conditions of the competition, and that they consent to the publication of the photographs for non-commercial promotional purposes. For minors, parents or legal guardians are responsible for this.
Photographs must depict native plant species (not ornamental or other cultivated plants), photographed anywhere in Slovenia.
Technical requirements for file preparation
Each author may submit a maximum of 3 photographs in JPG format, with the highest possible resolution (minimum 3000 pixels). The maximum size of each file is 5 MB. We only accept color photographs. They may be taken with a phone or camera. Borders and signatures on the photograph are not permitted.
The file should be named so that it contains the sequential number of the image, the first name, last name, and age of the author of the photo (num_firstname_lastname_age). Make sure that there are no diacritics or special characters in the file name. Each photo should also have a title, which you should include in the email when submitting your entry.
Only original photographs will be accepted for the competition. Creations made using artificial intelligence programs are not permitted. The organizer reserves the right to exclude photographs with inappropriate content or photographs that appear unnatural due to various manipulations.
Please send your files by September 30, 2026 (by midnight) to natecaj@pms-lj.si. Photographs received after this deadline will not be included in the competition.
The submitted works will be evaluated by a jury consisting of:
Dr. Davorin Tome, Dr. Tomi Trilar, Mag. Matija Križnar, and David Kunc.
The jury will review and evaluate the submitted works and select three photographs in each category. The organizer and jury reserve the right to award fewer or more prizes in each category, depending on the number and quality of the submitted works. The best photographs will be announced publicly on Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 6 p.m., at the Slovenian Museum of Natural History, as part of the Happy Culture Day event, when participants will be able to listen to a lecture on nature photography.
In the event of the unforeseen absence of any of the jury members, we reserve the right to change the jury. Appeals against the jury’s decisions are not possible.
The authors of the winning photographs will receive a diploma and generous prizes: a new guidebook to the Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden, a cloth bag and T-shirt, and free tickets to visit Juliana and the Slovenian Museum of Natural History. The winners in each category will also receive a copy of the book Incredible (published by the National Institute of Biology). The winning photographs will be published on Juliana’s website.
