Garden for Wildlife Photo Contest Winners

A Garden for Wildlife Photo Contest Winner

See a winner from the Garden for Wildlife Photo Contest

By Delaney McPherson
Habitat Gardening // Mar 30, 2026 // Updated Apr 30, 2026

The National Wildlife Federation’s photo contests are incredible opportunities not only to highlight some of the very best wildlife photography out there, but also to inspire people to get outdoors and experience nature.

Following public feedback on one of the Garden for Wildlife^® Photo Contest winners and a subsequent investigation, we have concluded that one winning photo was a composite of multiple images and has been disqualified from the contest.

That photo has been removed from this story. Please see the photo contest rules for more information. NWF is deeply sorry to the public and participating photographers that this slipped through our review process.

Looking ahead, we will work to rebuild your trust and ensure this does not happen again.

ON MARCH 30, 2026, the National Wildlife Federation announced the winners of its seventh annual Garden for Wildlife^® Photo Contest. Between early August and mid-September 2025, photographers entered nearly 9,000 photos in five categories. The images span species and habitats, showcasing beautiful, surprising and funny moments in gardens, yards and parks. Here is one standout. See all the winners and runners-up.

Claudia Cooper
Wildlife in the Garden Runner-Up

During the summer, the Soos Creek Botanical Garden in Auburn, Washington, near Claudia Cooper’s house, is usually rife with Pacific chorus tree frogs. Cooper has so many photos of the frogs, she has filled multiple calendars with them, but this particular frog on a native rudbeckia bloom felt special to her. “I love using my long lens for macros, and that’s what I did with this [photo],” she says. “I used a low aperture and shot through some petals to get a dreamy kind of background.”

The botanical garden has become a hotspot for photographers hoping to snap portraits of the frogs, but Cooper has found that her time there can lead to other surprising subjects, including snakes, praying mantises, hummingbirds, woodpeckers and bees.