IGPOTY Competition 19 Crowns Mark Hetherington Overall Winner With Lake District Sunset Shot

Mark Hetherington, an ARPS-designated Royal Photographic Society member, claimed the overall prize at International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition 19 with "Grange Fell Last Light," a Sony α7 IV image captured from Grange Fell in Borrowdale, Lake District, using a Sony FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II lens blended across four exposures into a single HDR composite.

The photograph frames purple heather in the foreground against silver birch trees and warm golden sunset light rolling across the Borrowdale hills, a composition that also earned Hetherington first place in the Breathing Spaces category. Head Judge Tyrone McGlinchey FLS FRSA, Managing Director of IGPOTY, described the image in his assessment: "The winning photograph depicts a stunning landscape vista, full of plant life, with layers of colour and tactile textures, and through a well-balanced composition, truly immerses us in the scene. The use of multiple exposures has allowed us to see the environment in all its glory – many congratulations to Mark."

The World of Fungi category went to Tony North for "Amethyst Deceivers," shot in Styal Woods, Cheshire. The image depicts a pair of amethyst deceiver mushrooms beside a fly and was built using focus stacking to combine multiple frames, a technique that pulls sharp detail across subjects too close together for a single depth of field to cover.

Grant Bulloch took first place in Trees, Woods & Forests with "Glen Affric." Bulloch described the creative decision behind the frame: "I climbed up above the treetops of the old Caledonian pines to look down on Glen Affric, and saw this diagonal contrast between the green pine trees, and the purple birches on the far side of the river."

Competition 19 spans nine main categories including Abstract Views, Beautiful Gardens, PMC Plants & Planet, The Beauty of Plants, Wildflower Landscapes, and Wildlife in the Garden, alongside four photo project tracks covering Black & White, Macro Art, My Garden Space, and Still Life. Special awards this year include Around the World at Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Captured at Kew, the European Garden Photography Award, and Life at Bodnant Garden. Full results, including runners-up and third-place finishes across every category, are published on the IGPOTY Competition 19 Results page.