The 2025 Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year (AGNPOTY) exhibition at the South Australian Museum has come into focus as one of the most successful in the competition’s 23-year history.
The competition is held annually by the Museum and the exhibition has shattered previous attendance records, re-affirming its place as one of Australia’s most popular photographic exhibitions.
The 2025 exhibition at the Museum closed at the beginning of February and attracted 24,809 visitors, more than double the 11,820 tickets sold for the 2024 exhibition.
AGNPOTY, which is owned and operated by the Museum, had an extended exhibition run of 22 weeks, compared to 18 the previous year.
Analytics collected by the Museum showed the extra month within the summer school holidays was pivotal in the increased ticket sales and in a fitting finale, the busiest day of the exhibition was the final day, 1 February.
The Museum also partnered with the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in a joint ticket so visitors could see both the AGNPOTY at the South Australian Museum and the Gardens’ Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.
Interest in the exhibition was matched by strong engagement in the competition itself. The 2025 competition, on which the exhibition is based, attracted 1,864 images from 449 photographers in 18 countries.
The exhibition also travels each year and venues have included the Australian Embassy at Buenos Aires in Argentina and at multiple locations across Australia.
Western Australian photographer Ross Gudgeon was named the overall winner with his image Fractal Forest; a unique look inside a cauliflower coral shot in Indonesia.
A sweeping and brilliantly hued image of the Tasman River in New Zealand titled Glacial Blue, captured by New South Wales photographer Stuart Chape at Lake Pukaki in the mountains of Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park was named winner of the People’s Choice Award.
Entries for the 2026 AGNPOTY have already closed, with submissions once again spanning the ANZANG bioregion – Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea.
Photographers submitted work across 10 categories: Animals in Nature, Botanical, Animal Behaviour, Macro, Landscape, Threatened Species, Monochrome, Our Impact, Portfolio and Junior.
The finalists for 2026 will be announced in June and the winners across the 10 categories will be announced at the end of August.
All finalists will then be exhibited at the South Australian Museum until 7 February 2027. The overall winner receives $10,000; category winners receive $1,500; while the Junior and People’s Choice winners take home $500.
You can visit the South Australian Museum’s website to view past winners and finalists of the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year.
Comments attributable to South Australian Museum Director Dr Samantha Hamilton
The Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year is one of the Museum’s most cherished exhibitions.
Our people put a great deal of work into it, and to see it pay off in such a spectacular way is just so satisfying for all of us.
But the real credit goes to the photographers who put their heart and soul into their images.
They, like us, cherish the natural world and want to make it accessible to all.
And accessible it has been – to double attendances in just one year is almost unheard of and we will be doubling our efforts to carry that success into the years ahead.
* Image: Sia Duff
