The top 100 shortlisted entries from this year's competition are now on display in The Nature Photography Exhibition at the Scottish Seabird Centre which is open daily until February 2010. Here is a small selection of some of the stunning photographs and  a link to our Gallery of the top 100 photos shortlisted this year. The winners will be announced on Thursday 11th February, when this year's competition will also be launched.

This year's entries have been judged by our panel (see below) and visitors to the exhibition have also had the chance to vote for their favourites which is added to the overall marks. 

Below is a gallery of last year's winners.

2008 Winners Gallery

The competition has become well established, with five categories; Scottish Wildlife, World Wildlife, Landscape, Creative Visions of Nature and Environmental Impact. The judges are multi award-winning wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell and renowned landscape photographer Graham Riddell and, in true "X-Factor" style, during the exhibition at the Seabird Centre, visitors can also vote for their favourites, which is added to the final score. The winners for this year's competition are shown below in our Photo Gallery.

Our gallery features the winning photographs in 2008 in the five categories - Scottish Wildlife, World Wildlife, Landscape, Creative Visions of Nature and Environmental Impact. 

Land & Sea (Adult)
Winter Morning Diarmid Weir, Winner, Land & Sea	The Sea that Shapes the Land Pauline Kemp, Runner Up Land & Sea
Sand Patterns Tom Gardner, Highly Commended, Land & Sea
World Wildlife (Adult)
Bear Fishing William Backhouse, Winner, World Wildlife	Silhouettes Pascal Miet, Runner Up, World Wildlife
Sealion Slumber Geoff Morgan, Highly Commended, World Wildlife
Scottish Wildlife (Adult)
Waiting for Sunset Stuart MacLaren, Winner, Scottish Wildlife	Brown Hare Karen Berry, Runner Up, Scottish Wildlife
Snail Tree Tom Gardner, Highly Commended, Scottish Wildlife
Creative Visions of Nature (Adult)
Enchanted Wood (Sand Patterns) Anita Nutter, Winner, Creative Visions of Nature	Curled Fern Still Life Stuart MacLaren, Runner Up, Creative Visions of Nature
Tiger Abstract Stuart Lowrie, Highly Commended, Creative Visions of Nature
Environmental Impact (Adult)
The Ba's Burst Anna Dickie, Winner, Environmental Impact	Melting Glacier John Fowler, Runner Up, Environmental Impact
Ground Strike Allan Adam, Highly Commended, Environmental Impact
Land & Sea (Junior)
Frozen Lake Ruaidhri Forrester, Winner, Land & Sea	Buchan Coast Ruaidhri Forrester, Runner Up, Land & Sea
Mouth of the River Dee at Night Jonathan Dawson, Highly Commended, Land & Sea
World Wildlife (Junior)
Golden Plover Ruaidhri Forrester, Winner, World Wildlife	Icelandic Take-off Robert Miller, Runner Up, World Wildlife
Sleepy Puffin Ruaidhri Forrester, Winner, Scottish Wildlife	Underwater Seal Ruaidhri Forrester, Runner Up, Scottish Wildlife
The Last Leaf of Autumn Robert Miller, Winner, Creative Visions of Nature	Dizzy Buttercups Ruaidhri Forrester, Runner Up, Creative Visions of Nature
Nature's Carpet Jonathan Dawson, Highly Commended, Creative Visions of Nature

The Scottish Seabird Centre's Nature Photography Competition & Exhibition 2009 is sponsored by

Visit the Photography Competitions Network for news of other competitions.