This autumn, September 6, 2025, the Eden Project’s National Wildflower Centre (NWC) turns 25. To celebrate, it has launched a UK-wide wildflower photography competition in partnership with the Canary Wharf Group with cash prizes of up to £1,500.
The Wildflower Photographer of the Year competition is calling all budding and professional photographers to submit their best photographs of wildflowers by September 30, 2025, to be in with a chance to win a prize.
The competition celebrates wildflowers native to Britain and Ireland, of which there are 1,600 species, and shines a light on the importance of connecting people with the natural world.
UK wildflower habitats have decreased by 97 per cent since WWII. The NWC opened its doors in response to these stark figures as a National Lottery Millennium Commission project in Liverpool in 2000 before making its home at the Eden Project in 2017.
Born from the vision of Landlife, a Liverpool-based charity with a bold mission to bring the countryside to people through the transformation of brownfield sites and neglected urban spaces into wildflower habitats, the NWC delivers large-scale biodiversity projects across the UK in partnership with communities, businesses, councils and other NGOs.
From vast cornfield meadows in Kirkby, Liverpool, where concrete once dominated, to 18 hectares of wildflower, woodland and heathland habitat along the new St Austell Link Road in Cornwall, wildflowers transform underused spaces into a living landscape for pollinators while providing delight, colour and access to nature for communities.
Dan James, director of development at the Eden Project, said: “The work of the NWC has never been more important than it is now. The Wildflower Photographer of the Year encourages everyone to look more closely at the beauty and fragility of wild plants. It is a visual tribute to our 25-year mission of reconnecting people with nature.”
The competition has been launched in partnership with Canary Wharf Group, home to Eden Dock – a leading example of how urban spaces can support biodiversity, created in partnership with the Eden Project – and is open to all UK residents. There are three categories, which comprise a youth, amateur and professional category with a cash prize of £500, £1,000 and £1,500 awarded respectively to the winner of each category.
Sophie Goddard, director of ESG at Canary Wharf Group, adds: “At Canary Wharf we have created spaces to connect people with nature throughout our neighbourhood. We see the work of the NWC as vital and are proud to support The Wildflower Photographer of the Year competition, providing a great opportunity to engage people with our natural world.”
The Wildflower Photographer of the Year competition coincides with the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, a showcase of 100 of the world’s best images of the natural world, on loan from the Natural History Museum and on display throughout the Eden Project until September 28.
To find out more, visit: www.edenproject.com/wildflower-photo.
