The Countryfile Photographic Competition finalists 2011

Every year without fail, Countryfile viewers, cameras at the ready, do their bit to raise money for BBC Children in Need. They send in photographs to compete for a place in the programme’s prestigious calendar, sold in aid of the charity. Last year we had a bumper crop of entries and the calendar raised a staggering £1.195m.

 

It’s been the same again this time round, with tens of thousands of photographs sent in from all over the country. This year’s theme, Best In Show, set a real challenge, transforming the competition into a kind of photographic country show. There were 12 classes to enter, and every photograph had to have the natural world or countryside at its heart.

 

Photographs could feature farm life, landscapes, birds, working animals, water worlds, country people, wildlife, leisure and pleasure, in all weathers, insects and spiders, plant life and the lighter side of country life.

 

Former competition finalists came along to help us narrow down the number of entries, before Countryfile’s John Craven, wildlife expert Chris Packham and new judge, former newspaper editor and keen rambler, Janet Street Porter got cracking on the tough task of choosing the final 12.

 

Each judge had their own categories to sift through, and they each had plenty to say about the standard of entries. Janet enjoyed her debut: “I’m thrilled that I’ve been asked to be a judge because I spend a huge amount of time in the countryside. I walk everywhere and always take photos.”

 

She was impressed with the high quality of entries.“We’ve got some humour, we’ve even got a wind turbine! I would have liked to see more photographs engaging with people, that was the only thing that I felt was lacking – and black and white photography because I love it. But overall a very professional standard, lots of great photographs."

Chris also had his favourites. “There have been some fantastic photographs, some beautiful portraits, a mixture of colour and topics," he said. "It’s a great range, resulting in 12 great pictures and the objective that we wanted - each one of these can last up to 30 one days on anyone’s wall! I would liked to have seen more invention and testing out different techniques, but I can’t be critical as there are some cracking photographs, some that really made me feel I wish I’d been there with my finger on the button, and some that I’ll remember because I’ve learned from them too.”

 

John, of course, has been presiding over the competition since it started more than a decade ago. For him, what stood out was the sheer quality of the entries. He said: “We always say it can’t possibly get any better, but it seems to do so every year. Maybe some people could use a little bit more imagination from time to time, because there are so many wonderful things to photograph in the countryside, it just needs a slightly different picture to grab our eye. But overall, the entries are absolutely fantastic. Every month when we turn the calendar over we’ll think ‘aren’t we lucky to live in this country’ because these pictures simply typify the British countryside. Last year the calendar raised well over £1m for BBC Children in Need so let’s hope that we can get towards £2m this year.”

 

Now the final 12 have been chosen to take pride of place in next year’s Countryfile calendar and all that’s left is to find out which of them has won the viewers’ vote. If you want to see what happens to your favourite, tune in to Countryfile on BBC One on Sunday 9 October, when the overall winner will be revealed as well as the photo the judges' like best.

 

 

Now sit back and enjoy this year's finalists, which will grace the 2012 Countryfile calendar.