For The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year Peoples Choice Award: How Voting Works & How to Win

What the KSBY wildlife photograph vote is

KSBY, a television station serving California, hands the judging of finalist wildlife photographs to its audience through the People's Choice branch of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year program. Organizer and host are the same party here: the form sits at ksby.com inside the station's news site, so no outside contest vendor stands between reader and vote. The confirmed address is the station's 2023 award page, titled for that edition and carrying KSBY's masthead throughout.

KSBY frames the ballot with a short pitch, "These images are stunning! Which are your favorites?", and asks readers to settle on a favorite before the printed deadline. The same page notes that Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 is open for entries in its 60th anniversary year, tying the station's local choice to the wider photography program it draws its images from.

This reference treats the award as a best-of style public choice in California, run by a single station for its own audience. The table below gathers what is confirmed.

The dated history of this award

Two editions of the program stand confirmed, one in 2023 and one in 2024, and those are the years KSBY's pages support. The 2023 edition is the one whose page still carries the form, and the 2024 cycle is anchored by the deadline the station printed, January 31, 2024, by which readers were asked to name a favorite. KSBY also said the winner and honorable mentions would follow once voting ended, which places the announcement after the end of January in that cycle.

The annual reading rests on those two years alone. KSBY names no first year for the program and no year after 2024, so the next edition, if there is one, will surface on the station's pages before it surfaces anywhere else. That page is the only safe guide to whether the vote returns and when.

Equally relevant to anyone planning around the form is what stays unwritten. KSBY has printed no opening day for the window, no list of the image groupings the form uses, and no statement about how often a single supporter may take part or who qualifies to do so; confirm on the live ballot each cycle. The station's silence on those points means a supporter should not borrow rules from any other ballot, however similar it looks, because nothing here says the same terms apply.

How a supporter votes on this ballot

The act of voting could hardly be shorter. A supporter opens the KSBY award page, scrolls through the finalist photographs, and submits a favorite right there. No outside platform sits between reader and choice, no account creation appears on the published page, and no round structure needs tracking. The station's framing, which asks readers to name their favorite images, makes the whole thing a single pick made on the spot.

Timing is the one real complication. The confirmed 2024 window ended on January 31, 2024, so whether a choice counts today depends entirely on which edition the live page carries. KSBY titled its confirmed form for the 2023 award, which means the address itself names its year. Anyone arriving through an older link should read the page's title and any printed date before submitting, because a pick cast on a finished edition does nothing for a current one.

For a photographer or supporter following the result, the station said the winner and honorable mentions are announced after voting closes. That announcement, like every dated detail in this program, comes from KSBY. Anyone backing one image should schedule outreach around the open window and treat the deadline line on the station's page as the final word on when the form shuts.

How this ballot sits beside its California neighbours

Among California public votes, this award stands apart for its subject: photographs, not businesses. The state's other confirmed ballots on this site are best-of programs ranking local shops, restaurants and services, each answering to a different publisher. They include Best of Central Valley Business, Best of Marin, Best of Orange County, Best of San Diego & Best Restaurants, Best of Silicon Valley and Best of North State Community's Choice Awards.

No other program on that list shares this one's organizer. KSBY answers to its own audience, hosts the form on its own site, and ties the choice to a photography program rather than to a business directory. Backing an entry here means supporting an image and, behind it, the photographer who made it, which changes who the reachable supporters are: wildlife and photography communities rather than a station's local shopping readership.

The comparison still teaches one practical lesson. Business ballots across California usually publish their categories, their rules and their season calendars openly, because nominees need that information to campaign. KSBY's wildlife form publishes none of that paperwork, so supporters arriving from a best-of background should not expect the same documentation here. The form page and the station's announcements are the only sources that count for dates, groupings and terms.

Strengthening support in this photo vote

The mechanic here is a single visit and a single choice on the KSBY page, so effective support depends on reaching people willing to make that trip. Wildlife photography has a ready audience: nature groups, camera clubs and followers of the photographers whose images reached the finalist round. Sharing the station's ballot link with the deadline spelled out is the outreach that fits this program, since the form asks nothing more of a supporter than a favorite pick before January 31 in the confirmed cycle.

KSBY has not published terms about outside help for this award, so the safe course is the one that fits any open public choice: ask real people, once, and let them decide on their own. Our guide on how to get more votes online builds a campaign around that approach, and our notes on award votes explain what paid help is and is not for a ballot of this shape. No paid assistance of any kind can promise a first-place finish in a public choice award, and the station's silence on purchased participation is not permission to ignore its rules.