Society of Wildlife Artists 2023 | Award Winners
Announcing the award winners at the SWLA 60th Annual Exhibition, The Natural Eye 2023 - congratulations to all!
The Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award
A prize of an ATS 80 HD spotting scope with 25-50x zoom eyepiece (with a value of £2,430), plus subscription to BirdGuides/Birdwatch
Winner: Richard Allen SWLA, Winter sun, Avocets
The BIRDscapes Gallery 'Conservation through Art' Award
£1,000 divided equally between the winning artist and a conservation organisation or project of their choice
Winner: Jonathan Pomroy
"With his enthusiastic engagement with the public by means of talks; his invitation to conferences where he has been asked to attend as something of an expert; his answering enquiries about practical issues around provision of nest sites; and with the use of his art to help raise funds to support relevant conservation organisations; this artist has done a great deal to try and help counter the decline in UK breeding numbers of a particular bird species.
Above all, in studying his own colony, he has amassed a great deal of knowledge about the behaviour and biology of these birds. He has translated this knowledge and observations into: a sell-out book, a plethora of sketches, a multitude of studies and a body of beautiful and evocative paintings.
The bird is the swift, and the artist, who is an outstanding and deserving winner of this year’s 'Conservation through Art' Award, is Jonathan Pomroy."
- Steve and Liz Harris, Birdscapes Gallery
RSPB Award
A prize of £500
Winner: Derek Robertson, In the darkest place the Nightingale sings
The Swarovski Optik New Artist Award
£250 for the best non-member work in the show
Winner: Jose Antonio Sencianes Ortega
Trymwood Studios Art Prize
An exciting opportunity of a solo exhibition at Trymwood Studios in 2024
Winner: Helen Kennedy
The Michael Harding Oil Painting Prize
£500 of art materials
Winner: Peter Partington SWLA, Barn Owl under a blue moon
The Michael Harding Watercolour Painting Prize
£500 of art materials
Winner: Stephen Message, Great Grey Shrike
Art Safari Works on Paper Award
A new prize to artists working on paper in any media, showing an artist’s engagement with wildlife and the environment. Value: £250
Winner: Christopher Wallbank SWLA, The Cleaver loomery
Photo by Mark Sepple
"Loomery is the name given to a breeding guillemot colony. I draw at this scale, to capture the topography of the whole colony with enough detail to observe the guillemot behaviour, such as preening and displaying, that bonds every bird in this living landscape together. Watercolour is used to record glimpses of jewel like eggs."
- Christopher Wallbank SWLA
Mall Galleries / FBA Award
Ten free submissions to exhibitions by the Federation of British Artists at Mall Galleries (worth up to £200) for a non-member exhibitor
Winner: Roseanne Landon, 3rd calf of the season
Dry Red Press Award
The winning work reproduced as a greetings card
Winner: John Hatton SWLA, Puffins on the sea
