Show us the colours along the Bruce Trail that catch your eye for your chance to win!

The bright yellow spots on a salamander’s back. The delicate ombres of orchids in bloom. The warm tones of mid-autumn leaves. The Bruce Trail is a vibrant place to explore nature in every season.

For this photo contest, we want to see the Bruce Trail in all its colourful glory. Show us the hues that make you happy – the ones that delight, inspire, and surprise you. Capture the colours of the Bruce Trail. 

Official Rules – Photo Contest 2026

Contest Period

April 1, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. (ET) to June 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. (ET)

Eligibility

• Contest is open to all – Bruce Trail members and non-members alike.
• Photos must be taken on or of the Bruce Trail, multiple entries are allowed.
• Photos must be the original work of the entrant.
• Photos must not depict inappropriate or unsafe behavior. For your own safety and to protect the sensitive species and habitats along the Trail, please stay on the Bruce Trail at all times.
• Photos do not have to have been taken within the contest period. Older photos are eligible. Photos from any season are eligible.
• The use of AI in creating or editing an image is strictly prohibited.
• Photos must be in digital JPG, PNG or GIF format. High-resolution scans of older prints or transparencies are acceptable as long as they are submitted in JPG, PNG or GIF format. Resolution should be high enough to accommodate a printed space of 9″ x 9″ at a resolution 300 dpi.
• Minor digital enhancement is permitted, but photos that have been significantly modified or appear unnatural will be disqualified. Submissions may be watermarked if desired, but the watermark should be inconspicuous enough to not interfere with the judging of the photo. A watermark-free version must be made available to judges by the photographer if asked in order to be eligible.

Use of Photographs

Your photographs help The Bruce Trail Conservancy preserve a ribbon of wilderness along the Niagara Escarpment for generations to explore. Thank you for helping to further our mission through your photography.

Ten finalists will be selected and will be displayed publicly on the BTC’s social media channels following the Contest period (including the photo, first name and last initial). If a caption is provided it will be shared at the discretion of the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

By entering the Contest, you grant The Bruce Trail Conservancy the non-exclusive right to publish, use, distribute, reproduce and publicly display your photograph, and to create derivative works from your photograph, in perpetuity, in any of its online, print or other media publications, materials or exhibitions, for purposes of promoting The Bruce Trail Conservancy’s mission and awareness of its programs, including but not limited to editorial, advertising, publicity, and fundraising purposes, without payment of compensation unless prohibited by law.

You grant The Bruce Trail Conservancy permission to provide your name when publishing, reproducing or otherwise using your photo and when identifying you as an entrant or prize winner in the Contest.

While The Bruce Trail Conservancy will make every effort to credit photographers when using photos, there may be circumstances where it is not possible to do so.

Subject to the rights granted to the Bruce Trail Conservancy, you retain all other copyrights and rights to future use of the photographs you enter into the Contest.

Releases

If your photograph includes an identifiable person or people, you must secure permission from each person (or in the case of a minor, the minor’s parent or guardian) to use their image in the Contest, and for the photograph to be used in various promotional activities by the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

You must be able to provide copies of those permission releases to the Bruce Trail Conservancy upon request. The Bruce Trail Conservancy reserves the right to disqualify an entry if it finds, in its sole discretion, that an entrant has not secured a necessary release.

Judging

After the close of the entry period, ten (10) winning entries will be chosen from all eligible submissions. The judging panel will be composed of individuals from the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

Photographs will be judged on photographic quality and visual impact; originality; and how well they express the theme. The decisions of the judges are final and binding.

The ten contest finalists will be featured in a future issue of Bruce Trail Conservancy Magazine and the BTC’s social media channels. Winners will be notified by email by the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

Prizes

The Grand Prize Winner and Runners Up will be featured in a future issue of Bruce Trail Conservancy Magazine. Prizes will be awarded as follows:

Grand Prize – $250 BTC Store Gift Card + a One-Year BTC Membership

First Runner Up – $100 BTC Store Gift Card + a One-Year BTC Membership

Second Runner Up – $50 BTC Store Gift Card + a One-Year BTC Membership

Photo credits top to bottom: Jon Spyne, Rhiannon Carruthers, Ian Coburn