My 10 year old son Ashley received a letter in the mail today, indicating he had won first prize in the "Plant and Animal Habitats" category for Years 4 to 7 of Chevron Australia's Focus Environment photography competition.

As can be expected, he was pretty excited about the win, and is looking forward to the presentation ceremony in October.

Here's his winning photo, taken in our back yard with one of my favourite lenses, the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens:

explorative spider

photo by Ashley, aged 10

back yard, Western Australia
Canon EOS 350D, 100mm f/2.8 macro @100mm, 1/125 sec, f/11, ISO200

Update (19 October 2009): We attended a presentation evening on 15 October, where Ashley received a certificate, and a cheque for $200, as well as $1500 for his school.
All the winning photos from the 2009 competition have now been published on Chevron's website, and the winning entries for each of the categories can be seen on these pages:
        People and the Environment
        Nature's Moods
        Plant and Animal Habitats