AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

  • Commended – 2016 Memorial Maria Louisa International Photo Contest
  • Awarded – 2016 Nature’s Best Photography Awards
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2015 Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition, Youth Division, with a second image being awarded as well
  • Honorable Mention – 2015 Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards
  • Specially Commended – 2015 Por el Planeta International Conservation Photography Competition
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2014 BIRDS AS ART International Photography Competition, Youth Category, with Runner-Up also awarded
  • Commended – 2014 Young Outdoor Photographer of the Year Competition
  • Youth Photographer of the Year – 2013 Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2012 BIRDS AS ART International Photography Competition, with images also placing in 4th and 5th
  • Wildlife Photo of the Year – 2012 Nature Photographer’s Network
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2012 Canadian Geographic Wildlife Photography of the Year Contest, Junior Photographers, with an additional image being awarded Runner-Up and two others receiving Honourable Mention awards
  • Runner-Up – 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest, Youth Category
  • Grand Prize (overall winner from all ages and categories) – 2011 Western Heritage Values Photo Contest sponsored by Canadian Geographic and the Calgary Stampede, with an additional image winning First Place in the Junior Photographers division
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2011 National Wildlife Federation Photo Contest, Youth Category, with an additional image receiving an Honourable Mention award
  • Finalist (6 images) – 2011, 2012 and 2013 NHM/BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Young Competition
  • Winner – 2011 Robert Bateman/CWF Get to Know Contest
  • First Place/Overall Winner – 2010 Canadian Wildlife Federation Focus on Nature Youth Contest, Landscape Category
  • Runner-Up – 2010 and 2011 Canadian Geographic Wildlife Photography of the Year Contest, Junior Photographers, with two additional images receiving Honourable Mention Awards in 2011
  • Runner-Up – 2011 Canadian Geographic Annual Photography Competition, Junior Photographers

About Jenaya Launstein

Jenaya is a professional photographer based in Whitehorse, YT.

At 10 years old, she told her parents she wanted to be a wildlife photographer. After continuing to talk about this dream, her parents bought her a used Nikon D70s for her 13th birthday. From there, Jenaya’s passion grew exponentially!

In 2013, she became only the second young woman to be named Youth Photographer of the Year in the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. The contest sees some 25,000 entries from over 50 countries.

The following year, she joined fellow award winners Art Wolfe and Tin Man Lee, along with several other winning photographers, for the award ceremony at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

Jenaya’s winning image, which featured a porcupine in the Yukon, was later selected by the Smithsonian as one of the top 100 nature images from the past 20 years and returned to the museum for an extended exhibit of “The Best of the Best.”

In 2015, Jenaya was named the overall winner of the Youth Division in the Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition, as well as being Specially Commended in Por el Planeta and receiving an Honorable Mention in the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards.

Two years later, she was blessed to have another image on exhibit at the Smithsonian, as well as be awarded in the Memorial Maria Louisa International Competition.

Jenaya’s work has also been displayed at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, and the Canadian Museum of Nature.

She is privileged to have had her photography published in numerous national and international magazines, including Canadian Geographic, Nature’s Best, Nature Photographer Magazine, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick Jr., Canadian Wildlife, WILD Magazine, Outdoor Photography Canada, and more.

When Jenaya is not out in the field photographing, she can often be found fly fishing, horseback riding, hiking with her family, and just generally enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.