Nature's Best Photography
Windland Smith Rice International
Awards Judges Panel:

Stephen Freligh Co-founder and Publisher of Nature’s Best Photography magazine, Stephen B. Freligh has spent the last 30 years connecting people with nature through visually directed and conservation motivated multimedia programs. His interest in photography has taken him all over the globe including Africa, Arctic, Asia, Australia, Europe, Japan, Middle East, New Zealand, South America, and more. Beyond assisting in the selection of images that are used for Nature’s Best Photography, Freligh's past work includes 15 years of photo editing with the National Wildlife Federation and photo research and editing projects with the African Wildlife Foundation, Audubon magazine’s Photography Awards, Discovery Communications, Eastman Kodak Company, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution, US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Zoo, America Online, MSNBC, Canon USA, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Nikon, Sony, SIGMA, and more.
   The centerpiece of Freligh’s work is the long-term alliance with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and the development of the Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards program, where competition winners are displayed annually in print exhibitions.

Charles A. Veatch Beyond his love for nature photography and his participation and presentations at the North American Nature Photography Association, Charles Veatch has been a respected judge for numerous photo competitions throughout Virginia and Maryland. In addition to his positions as Chairman of the Board and contributing Editor at NBP, Veatch is a member of several non-profit boards including the Reston Historic Trust, the Greater Reston Arts Center, Nature’s Best Photography Fund, and the Potomac Conservancy. He was also a founding board member of the Fairfax County Parks Foundation.
    Veatch was appointed Shenandoah University’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees in October of 2008. With a penchant for community service and higher education, Veatch is passionate about the stewardship of the environment. He serves on the endowment board of the National Wildlife Federation and is a real estate fellow at the McIntyre School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.



Craig R. Sholley Vice President for Philanthropy and Marketing of the African Wildlife Foundation, Craig Sholley's experiences with wildlife and conservation began in 1973 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, Africa. He has worked, traveled, and photographed extensively since that time providing conservation expertise in a variety of world arenas. As an L.S.B. Leakey grant researcher in the late 1970's, Sholley studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey. Returning to the US, he redirected his interests developing natural history programming for the Baltimore Zoological Society. Concurrently, he pursued his travel interests leading tours and photographing throughout Africa, South America, and Asia. Throughout much of the ‘90’s, Sholley was Director of Conservation and Education for International Expeditions, an organization widely recognized for its ecotourism initiatives.
    Sholley has served as a Senior Associate of the African Wildlife Foundation and on AWF’s Board of Trustees. He has also served on the Board of the Ecotourism Society. Blending field experience with his passion for photography, Sholley will focus his attention on our new African Wildlife category.




Molly Roberts is a photographer and Chief Photography Editor at Smithsonian magazine.
Working in the D.C. publishing world for over 25 years, she has had the pleasure of contributing her photography and editing skills to Smithsonian, the Washington Post, Washington Post magazine, National Geographic Books, USA Weekend, Time magazine and others. She worked with Tipper Gore on her photo memoir "Picture This, A Visual Diary" as well as on "Southwest: God's, Gold and Grandeur" By Paul Robert Walker featuring landscape photography by George H.H. Huey. At the Smithsonian magazine she has had the opportunity to shape photography driven stories and assign photography to some of the top photographers in the world.
    Producing multimedia for Smithsonian.com is a new interest and skill. An active member of Women Photographer's of Washington, DC, NPPA, AAPP and FOTODC, she has received professional recognition
from American Photography, Society of Publication Design, Sunmag, and N.Y. Art Directors Club. Her work has been exhibited at numerous places including the Intuitive Eye gallery, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Photography is a lifelong passion and an eye- and heart-opening profession.

 

Deborah Freligh
Recognized for her award-winning design, Art Director 
and Co-publisher Deborah Orbell Freligh has a background in Visual Communications and more than 35 years experience 
in art direction, design, graphics, illustration, directing photography, and advertising. Her clients include the National Wildlife Federation, the African Wildlife Foundation, Audubon magazine’s Birds in Focus Photography Awards, Discovery Communications, Eastman Kodak Company, National Geographic Society, Smithsonian Institution, America Online, MSNBC, Canon USA, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Nikon, Sony, SIGMA, and more. She is also largely responsible for the success of the alliance between Nature’s Best Photography and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History exhibition program.
 

Each photograph selected for display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is carefully chosen by the judges for excellence in composition, use of light, ability to capture an animal behavior, and overall image appeal. Each image exhibited is approved by Museum scientists who review the species identification and caption accuracy. In addition, each selected photo is screened by imaging specialists for technical reproduction quality.