The SACC regional qualifying round of IPF Nature Photographer of the Year 2016/2017 took place last Sunday (January 22nd) at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust, Cabragh, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. And what a great day it was with so many wonderful images, and a large attendance in a fabulous venue.

The event was extremely well attended again this year with photographers travelling the length and breath of the region to be there. The glorious weather facilitated travelling and afforded members a chance to see the Cabragh wetlands. We are sure that many made plans to return and photograph in this wonderful natural environment.

Congratulations to all award winners, especially Dominick Moloney from Limerick Camera Club who was selected as regional winner with his stunning image ‘Himalayan Bumble Bee’.  We’d love to show you his image, and the other award winning ones, but we’ll have to wait until the finals are over next month.

Thank you to our judges, Kevin Murphy, FIPF, ARPS and Des Connors, FIPF, for their expertise in selecting winners in the various competition categories. It was a difficult task with so many stunning image entered on the day. Thanks also to Thurles Camera Club members for their valuable assistance on organising the venue, providing café facilities and helping with the running of the competition throughout the day.

Thanks to all at the Cabragh Wetlands Trust for the use of their amazing and beautiful venue. We’d encourage members with an interest in nature photography to make the trip to Thurles and are sure that it’d be worthwhile to add to your nature photography portfolio!

We’d also like to say a big thank you to Jim McSweeney for his beautiful calligraphy skills on the award certificates!

Report cards will be sent out shortly. Images were marked out of a maximum score of 18 points.  The qualifying mark for all sections was 12 points and above.

The competition results are available here: SACC Nature PotY Results

We hope to see you all again to Drogheda in a few weeks for the national finals and also hope to see some of our SACC photographers in the winners enclosure!

Gallery of Award Winners below:

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