The Gerard Mills Memorial Prize for Wildlife Photography is a showcase and celebration of the diversity of our wildlife, through photography. This competition is an acknowledgement to students who capture the true essence of local wildlife through their photography.
Honouring a UniSC legend
The Gerard Mills Memorial Prize honours the memory of UniSC Honorary Senior Fellow, Mr. Gerard Mills. Gerard devoted much of his life to education, art, and photography. He spent almost four years taking more than 30,000 photos of wildlife activity, each week walking kilometres of UniSC's 100-hectare Sunshine Coast campus to find rare and elusive species.
Mr. Mills documented almost 600 species including everything from the tiniest beetles to the biggest kangaroos, from snakes and birds to bandicoots and sugar gliders.
Competition details
This year’s competition is open from Sunday 1 October and ends at midnight 26 October 2023.
Winners will be announced at the Design Showcase at the UniSC Art Gallery on 3 November 2023. If the winners are not present at the reception, they will be notified by email.
Works by finalists will be displayed on screens at the UniSC Maker Space (UniSC Sunshine Coast) and The Rise (UniSC Moreton Bay) during November.
Prizes
School student category
- First prize: A$250 gift voucher
- Second prize: A$150 gift voucher
UniSC student category
- First prize: A$1,000 cash
- Second prize: A$300 cash
- Third prize: A$200 cash
Windows Desktop Prize (UniSC students only)
The UniSC IT team will select an appropriate image to roll out for their next Windows upgrade which will sit as the background to the login page on all UniSC Windows computers (in computer labs and staff computers).
2022 Prize winners
Related news

Photo finish: UniSC triathlete wins gold… in wildlife photography
Lucy Bowden's stunning photo of a black swan wins 2022 Gerard Mills Prize for Wildlife Photography

Noisy miner takes the prize in photography contest
From a noisy miner to a water dragon to a soaring osprey – the winning entries of an annual University of the Sunshine Coast photographic competition have highlighted its students’ fascination with wildlife on campus.