This year, our Judges’ Panel Awards were selected by a panel of six members who bring experience across a diverse range of conservation sectors, including academia, tech, research, and media. We asked our judges to evaluate submissions based on conservation impact, novel innovation/discovery, and strong storytelling. 

Although the challenge is not a competition, these selections honor the submissions that appeal broadly to the field of conservation and the intersection of researchers, conservationists, innovators, communicators, and technology enthusiasts involved in the sector.

Our judges were inspired and awed by this year’s submission, commenting on the hope and ingenuity that each submission evoked. With over 100 submissions to choose from, the judges agreed that voting was a tough decision and there were many winning images. 

Although the choices were difficult, we hope these submissions represent the broad story and evolution of conservation tech and highlight the incredible range of disciplines and tech represented in this year’s challenge.

Photo

Our photo submissions captured moments of innovation and discovery. Danelle Rivet took first place with her camera trap photos monitoring polar bears in Wapusk National Park to evaluate sea ice dynamics effects on bear body condition and look at human presence effects on bear visitation to infrastructure. In second place, Joana Picq showed us impactful images from Onçafari showing burnt camera traps destroyed in a fire that killed countless species, showing just how much tech can withstand the forces of nature. Third place went to Open Acoustic Devices, who shared a photo of how they're using AudioMoths to detect infrasonic elephant rumbles.

First Place: Danielle Rivet

Just finished up my PhD using #CameraTraps to monitor #PolarBears in Wapusk National Park so I could evaluate sea ice dynamics effects on bear body condition and to look at human presence effects on bear visitation to infrastructure. #Tech4Wildlife @WILDLABSNET pic.twitter.com/668SHFA3SX

— Danielle Rivet, PhD 🐻🐻‍❄️ (@grizzlygirl87) August 9, 2024

"Just finished up my PhD using #CameraTraps to monitor #PolarBears in Wapusk National Park so I could evaluate sea ice dynamics effects on bear body condition and to look at human presence effects on bear visitation to infrastructure."

 

Second Place: Joana Picq

Camera traps, trapped in a raging fire that death trapped wildlife. A tragic reminder that tech cant beat nature, and yet that tech can protect wildlife! Photo by @Oncafari whose tech protected most animals and whose hands will feed them for survival @WILDLABSNET #Tech4Wildlife pic.twitter.com/SFVpatKA17

— Joana Picq (@jopicq) August 6, 2024

"Camera traps, trapped in a raging fire that death trapped wildlife. A tragic reminder that tech cant beat nature, and yet that tech can protect wildlife! Photo by @Oncafari whose tech protected most animals and whose hands will feed them for survival"

Third Place: Open Acoustic Devices

Testing AudioMoth for the detection of infrasonic elephant rumbles at @ZSLWhipsnadeZoo as part of the @WILDLABSNET awards 2024, together with @OfficialZSL #Tech4Wildlife pic.twitter.com/TOeu4McAz5

— Open Acoustic Devices (@OpenAcoustics) August 8, 2024

"Testing AudioMoth for the detection of infrasonic elephant rumbles at @ZSLWhipsnadeZoo as part of the @WILDLABSNET awards 2024, together with @OfficialZSL"

Video

Our video submissions demonstrated the vast diversity of applications of tech for conservation. Aamir Ahmad took first place with an incredible video of using autonomour airships and multirotor drones to monitor wild horses. In second place, Melissa Crytzer Fry gave us a glimpse into the wildlife population off the Sonoran Desert--information that's used to help protect the San Pedro River watershed from harmful resource extraction. In third place, WildDrone shared the thermal footprint that humpback whales leave in their wake, captured by drones equipped with infrared and RGB cameras.

First Place: Aamir Ahmad

Read "🐴 Wild Horses and Robotic Airships 🤖 | Aamir Ahmad" on

🐴 Wild Horses and Robotic Airships 🤖 | Aamir Ahmad

🐴 Wild Horses and Robotic Airships 🤖 What a wonderful field trip the Flight Robotics and Perception Group team just had in the Hungarian Steppe! Full of exciting experiments with #autonomous airships, multirotor drones and #wild #horses. We demonstrated i) perception-driven autonomous flights of our airship tracking horses using only its onboard camera and computer based on our work in [1], and ii) autonomous multirotor drones (this time #Parrot #Anafis !), both single and two drones in a perception-driven formation, tracking and following a horse based on our work in [2]. Thanks to Cyber Valley, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and University of Stuttgart for supporting this project and these endeavors! WildCap Project: https://lnkd.in/er5rz_fq FRPG Group: https://www.aamirahmad.de/ [1] Price, E., Black, M., & Ahmad, A. (2023) Viewpoint-driven Formation Control of Airships for Cooperative Target Tracking, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 3653-3660, June 2023. doi: https://lnkd.in/ezyyf6cR [2] Tallamraju, R., Price, E., Ludwig, R., Karlapalem, K., Bülthoff, H. H., Black, M. J., & Ahmad, A. (2019). Active Perception based Formation Control for Multiple Aerial Vehicles, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 4(4), 4491--4498. https://lnkd.in/eDyPWXji #aerialrobots #natureconservation #biodiversity #dronesforgood #blimps #animalbehaviour #aiforgood #robotlearning #intelligentsystems #intelligentrobots #Tech4Wildlife #conservation

"Wild Horses and Robotic Airships! What a wonderful field trip the Flight Robotics and Perception Group team just had in the Hungarian Steppe! Full of exciting experiments with #autonomous airships, multirotor drones and #wild #horses. We demonstrated i) perception-driven autonomous flights of our airship tracking horses using only its onboard camera and computer based on our work in [1], and ii) autonomous multirotor drones (this time #Parrot #Anafis !), both single and two drones in a perception-driven formation, tracking and following a horse based on our work in [2]. Thanks to Cyber Valley, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and University of Stuttgart for supporting this project and these endeavors! WildCap Project: https://lnkd.in/er5rz_fq FRPG Group: https://www.aamirahmad.de/"

Second Place: Melissa Crytzer Fry

Using #cameratraps to share the Sonoran Desert's incredible biodiversity as a means to protect the fragile San Pedro River watershed & its wildlife from harmful copper mining & other destructive green-energy projects currently wreaking havoc. #Tech4Wildlife @wildlabsnet 🔊up! pic.twitter.com/8nk8oC9xC3

— Melissa Crytzer Fry (@CrytzerFry) August 9, 2024

"Using #cameratraps to share the Sonoran Desert's incredible biodiversity as a means to protect the fragile San Pedro River watershed & its wildlife from harmful copper mining & other destructive green-energy projects currently wreaking havoc. 🔊up!"

Third Place: WildDrone

In La Réunion, Lucie Laporte-Devylder is leading groundbreaking marine mammal research using drones with infrared + RGB cameras. Capturing thermal tracks of humpback whales, she aims at improving our abilities to monitor and protect marine ecosystems #Tech4Wildlife @WILDLABSNET pic.twitter.com/biVDstYxVw

— WildDrone (@WildDrone_EU) August 8, 2024

"In La Réunion, Lucie Laporte-Devylder is leading groundbreaking marine mammal research using drones with infrared + RGB cameras. Capturing thermal tracks of humpback whales, she aims at improving our abilities to monitor and protect marine ecosystems"

Photo/Video Story

Our story submissions provided an in-depth look into some of the projects and initiatives across conservation tech. In first place, Digital Naturalism Labs explained the details of the Mothbox, an open-source hardware tool for studying insect biodiversity, including information on how to build one yourself! Next up we had WildTrack FIT, who used a combination of photos and videos to explain how they measure ecosystem integrity through identifying small mammal footprints. Lastly, FishEye Collaborative took us on an undersea adventure with photos and videos, showing how they use the CuraSub to place continuous acoustic recording devices at dangerous depths, giving us a peek into the sounds of marine life for up to 6 months at a time. 

First Place: Digital Naturalism Labs

Read "Instagram" on Instagram

Instagram

102 likes, 10 comments - digital.naturalism.labs on August 9, 2024: "The Mothbox is our latest #openscience #opensource #hardware tool for studying insect biodiversity! It's a low-cost #diy device you can build with off-the-shelf parts and simple documentation. Thanks to an incredible grant we won from @wildlabsnet we have been able to pour our heart into this #tech4wildlife project since march and refine it to be a really robust, jungle-proof and easy to use device! It uses a @raspberrypi 5 and a 64mp @arducam_official Camera to take ultra -high resolution photos (9152 x 6944) of insects as small as 500 micrometers! The RTC auto-wakeup of the #pi5 and free custom scripts to automatically schedule itself to turn on whichever nights and times you want, and otherwise remain dormant in a low-power state that can last for months. Thanks to some power-efficient programming, as is, using the built-in battery the Mothbox can record for four nights (23 hours at our standard schedule) or you can easily extend this battery life with its #solar hookups or ability to daisy chain batteries. After your mothbox has done its duty in the field, its high resolution photos can be passed through our homebrewed open source #yolo based AI to automatically detect all the insects it spotted! The Mothbox has already been thoroughly built and tested in the jungles of Panamá, Peru, and Ecuador, as well as other places like the US and UK. You can build one yourself right now by checking out all its free, open source documentation (link in bio), with even more documentation soon to come to @instructables and @hacksterio ! Parts cost around $350 (mostly a battery, camera, and Pi) which is orders of magnitude cheaper than other automated insect monitoring systems which can cost $10-15,000! It's also designed to be fully repairable or modified in the field and needs no soldering! (You can fix the whole thing with just a couple pieces of wire and nail clips!) The design and development has been led by @hikinghack @well.read.panda and @hubert.szcz But is continuously drawing on amazing support from our extended team like @gosh_community @gamboaheliconius @daisydent @crowtherlab @experiment_dot_com and many many more! Let us know if you build one!".

Instagram

"The Mothbox is our latest #openscience #opensource #hardware tool for studying insect biodiversity! It's a low-cost #diy device you can build with off-the-shelf parts and simple documentation. Thanks to an incredible grant we won from @wildlabsnet we have been able to pour our heart into this #tech4wildlife project since march and refine it to be a really robust, jungle-proof and easy to use device! 

It uses a @raspberrypi 5 and a 64mp @arducam_official Camera to take ultra -high resolution photos (9152 x 6944) of insects as small as 500 micrometers! The RTC auto-wakeup of the #pi5 and free custom scripts to automatically schedule itself to turn on whichever nights and times you want, and otherwise remain dormant in a low-power state that can last for months. Thanks to some power-efficient programming, as is, using the built-in battery the Mothbox can record for four nights (23 hours at our standard schedule) or you can easily extend this battery life with its #solar hookups or ability to daisy chain batteries. 

After your mothbox has done its duty in the field, its high resolution photos can be passed through our homebrewed open source #yolo based AI to automatically detect all the insects it spotted! The Mothbox has already been thoroughly built and tested in the jungles of Panamá, Peru, and Ecuador, as well as other places like the US and UK. You can build one yourself right now by checking out all its free, open source documentation (link in bio), with even more documentation soon to come to @instructables and @hacksterio ! Parts cost around $350 (mostly a battery, camera, and Pi) which is orders of magnitude cheaper than other automated insect monitoring systems which can cost $10-15,000! It's also designed to be fully repairable or modified in the field and needs no soldering! (You can fix the whole thing with just a couple pieces of wire and nail clips!) The design and development has been led by @hikinghack @well.read.panda and @hubert.szcz But is continuously drawing on amazing support from our extended team like @gosh_community @gamboaheliconius @daisydent @crowtherlab @experiment_dot_com and many many more! Let us know if you build one!"

Second Place: WildTrack FIT

Read "WildTrack.org | Our #Tech4Wildlife project for @wildlabsnet is a new cost-effective ecosystem integrity metric using small mammal footprints. Small mammals... | Instagram" on Instagram

WildTrack.org | Our #Tech4Wildlife project for @wildlabsnet is a new cost-effective ecosystem integrity metric using small mammal footprints. Small mammals... | Instagram

15 likes, 0 comments - wildtrackfit on August 7, 2024: "Our #Tech4Wildlife project for @wildlabsnet is a new cost-effective ecosystem integrity metric using small mammal footprints. Small mammals are a huge component of most ecosystems and our technology can identify species from their footprints, delivering key ecosystem and related climate change information. Our solution, with partners @nationalmuseumbloemfontein, @jrsbiodiversity, @jmpsoftware, @am_wildlifepics and @oppgenrc, combines traditional ecological knowledge, simple materials, and cutting-edge analytics. #climatechange #ecosystem #ai #ai4good #species".

Instagram

"Our #Tech4Wildlife project for @wildlabsnet is a new cost-effective ecosystem integrity metric using small mammal footprints. Small mammals are a huge component of most ecosystems and our technology can identify species from their footprints, delivering key ecosystem and related climate change information. Our solution, with partners @nationalmuseumbloemfontein, @jrsbiodiversity, @jmpsoftware, @am_wildlifepics and @oppgenrc, combines traditional ecological knowledge, simple materials, and cutting-edge analytics."

Third Place: FishEye Collaborative

Read "Instagram" on Instagram

Instagram

33 likes, 3 comments - fisheyecollaborative on August 9, 2024: "Deep coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet and yet are one of the least explored. While divers would be crushed at these depths, we work with @substationcuracao and their submersible, the CuraSub, to deploy continuous acoustic recorders that capture the sounds of marine life for up to 6 months at a time! We take the sub up to 1000 ft below the surface and have been some of the only people to see, and now hear, the things fish are doing down in this other world. 🔊🐠 @wildlabsnet #Tech4Wildlife".

Instagram

"Deep coral reefs among the most biodiverse ecosystems on our planet and yet are one of the least explored. While divers would be crushed at these depths, we work with @substationcuracao and their submersible, the CuraSub, to deploy continuous acoustic recorders that capture the sounds of marine life for up to 6 months at a time! We take the sub up to 1000 ft below the surface and have been some of the only people to see, and now hear, the things fish are doing down in this other world."

Thank you for submitting to the 9th Annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge! While we honor this year’s Judges’ Panel Awards, each and every submission served to contribute to the broad story of conservation technology. It was a pleasure to celebrate all the sector has to offer, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you again next year.