Captivating Images from Winners of the ROM Photographer of the Year Contest

Scarborough man wins trip to Greenland with winning photo of coyote in downtown Toronto

As part of our engagement program for the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit (from BBC Worldwide and the Natural History Museum, London), we launched an Ontario specific photo contest in mid December 2015. In less than two months, more than 2250 submissions were received by the ROM through Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #ROMwpy. These included an incredible diversity of shots, from across the planet, and of all forms of life, and our Judges selected the top three - which we present here for the first time!

Congratulations to all entrants, and a huge thanks to our exhibit and contest sponsor Quark Expeditions.

First Place, and winner of an exclusive trip to the Arctic and Greenland with Quark Expeditions, Steven Rose, Scarborough Ontario:

Second Place, and winner of a new camera thanks to Henry’s, Peter Bowers, Eagle Lake Ontario:

Third Place, and winner of a one-year ROM Membership, Megan Lorenz, Etobicoke Ontario:

Although this was the first year we hosted a province wide contest, we have held an annual ROM Staff and Volunteer Photographer of the Year contest since 2013.  This year we received 110 great shots from our very own, and they were also fantastic. Here are the top five as determined by our Judges:

First Place, Debbie Stelzer, Department of Museum Volunteers:

Second Place, Sean McCann, Entomology Volunteer:

Third Place, Vincent Luk, Environmental Visual Communication Graduate and Biodiversity Volunteer

Honourable Mention, James Rowan, Archival Aid Volunteer

Honourable Mention, Shannon Duane, Hands-on Gallery Volunteer