The 2026 Love Your Coast Photography Competition

With just one month left to enter, An Taisce’s Clean Coasts Programme is calling on Irish photographers to capture the beauty, power, and fragility of Ireland’s coastlines, and enter in the Love Your Coast photography competition 2026.  

With entries closing on May 15th, 2026 at Midnight, this is the final call to turn passion for the coast into a compelling visual story, showcasing and celebrating the powerful ways in which our coasts leave an indelible impact on communities, nature, and local heritage, and in turn how we can impact our coasts both positively and negatively. 

Running now for 17 years, the Love Your Coast photography competition attracts hundreds of photographers year on year from across the country, entering thousands of stunning photographs which display the diverse beauty of Ireland’s coastline through their own lens.

For 2026, the Love Your Coast photography competition encourages photographers to use the annual theme of Impact as a powerful lens through which to explore the ever-evolving relationship between people, nature, and the coast.

This theme aims to invite entrants to reflect on both the positive and negative ways our oceans, waterways, and shorelines are shaped by human activities and natural forces, and how these environments, in turn, can impact coastal wildlife, landscapes, and communities.

Source to Sea Category Winner Helen Black with ‘Let there be Light’ taken in Glendasan in Co.Wicklow in 2025

By capturing the beauty of our waterways, coastline and marine life, photographers have a wonderful opportunity to showcase their work and in turn remind the public of the importance of caring for and protecting our unique landscape.

With an overall prize fund of €5,000 to be awarded amongst category winners, the Love Your Coast photography competition offers photographers the opportunity to exhibit their talent across five distinct categories. Each of these categories highlights different areas of interest to highlight along Ireland’s shores.

From crashing waves, flowing waterfalls, and golden sands to vibrant coastal communities, diverse wildlife, and rich heritage, each category offers a chance to celebrate the beauty and significance of the Irish coast:

1. Coastal Landscape
2. People and the Coast
3. Source to Sea
4. Wildlife and the Coast
5. Underwater

These categories invite photographers to depict Ireland’s coastline through photographs taken within the last 24 months.

To support participants, Clean Coasts have provided guidelines for photographers to optimise their skills and submissions, which can be viewed on their website HERE

Entries opened on Valentine’s Day, February 14^th 2026, and will close on May 15^th 2026 at Midnight. 

Winners will be celebrated at an awards ceremony held in Dublin in July.

The ceremony will bring together shortlisted photographers, ocean advocates, supporters of the Clean Coasts Programme and special guests to showcase the winning images, honour the winning images, and highlight the stories behind the lens in an event dedicated to creativity and coastal appreciation.

The Clean Coasts Love Your Coast Photography Competition is kindly supported by the Department of Climate Energy and the Environment and Fáilte Ireland.

Tim Nuttall of Department of Climate Energy and the Environment said “The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment is proud to be part of An Taisce’s Love Your Coast photography competition, which features as one of the annual highlights of their Clean Coasts programme.

The message of caring for our marine environment along with the high-quality images themselves which showcase the enormous range of marine biodiversity and seascapes is one which we are more than happy to support.”

Shane Dineen of Fáilte Ireland said “Fáilte Ireland is once again delighted to support the Love Your Coast Photography competition for 2026.

“The rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean, Irish, and Celtic seas make for endlessly changing sights and when combined with our unpredictable weather provide delight and surprise for locals and visitors alike.

“The imagery from the photographers each year plays an important role in highlighting the diverse marine wildlife and our maritime heritage on our island.

“We wish the very best of luck to all entrants as they capture the essence of the Irish coastline.”

Bronagh Moore, Clean Coasts Programme Manager, said: “Every year we look forward to seeing the stunning images that are entered into this competition.

“We have hugely talented photographers in this country and an amazingly diverse coastline as a subject, so it’s an honour to be able to showcase their work and our beautiful coastline through this competition.

“With ‘impact’ as our theme this year, I’m looking forward to seeing the ways in which photographers capture how our actions both positive and negative impact on the coast.”

For more information about Love Your Coast and to submit your entries, please visit https://cleancoasts.org/our-initiatives/love-your-coast/