For several years, Canon Canada has teamed up with Earth Rangers, a kids’ conservation organization, to help get Canadian families more actively involved in protecting wildlife habitat in their own backyards.

In 2021, with Canon Canada’s support, Earth Rangers launched the Backyard Biologist Mission, a program that teaches kids about biodiversity in local green spaces and lets them share their findings. This year, to amplify the impact of this initiative, Earth Rangers organized the Backyard Biologist Photo Contest.

Photographers aged 12 and under submitted entries to three categories: best photo of a plant or fungi; best photo of a vertebrate; and best photo of an invertebrate. Each entry included a description of the photo and an explanation of how the youth identified its subject. Entries were judged on three criteria: compelling representation of the photo category, photographic quality, and quality of the species identification process.

The contest received nearly 1,300 entries. Canon Canada donated three PowerShot ELPH 360 HS point-and-shoot cameras, one for each grand-prize winner Canon Canada employees helped choose the winners. Each winner’s photo is now displayed at the Earth Rangers Studio in the Schad Gallery of Biodiversity at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto.

Earlier this month, Earth Rangers hosted a special event at the ROM to announce the grand-prize winners and unveil their photos at the gallery. Ranger Leland won for a photo of an orange-belted bumblebee; Ranger Jillian won for a photo of an Eastern painted turtle; and Ranger Maelle won for a photo of an orchid (pictured above). They also hosted three 30-minute sessions for Earth Rangers members and ROM visitors. Each session featured a meet-and-greet with four of the organization’s Animal Ambassadors: Sonic, a European barn owl; Nacho, a curl-crested aracari; Millie, a three-banded armadillo; and Benjamin, a yellow-footed tortoise. Attendees learned about different species, asked questions and took photos.

Congratulations to all the contest winners!

Check out photos of the Animal Ambassadors below.