reserved for images far out of the ordinary in respect to at least five of the following parameters:

- surprising idea
- emotional appeal
- handling of colour
- handling of light
- precision of focus
- composition
- rarity of observation
- rarity of species
- informative notes

2011-10-31/p.st.

Vienna Woods - Wienerwald was admitted by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve in 2005. In close vicinity of and even extending into Vienna's urban area, the Vienna Woods are one of Europe's largest deciduous forests, with numerous open areas in between. The biosphere reserve covers 1056 sqkm. Located both above limestone and sandstone, it shows a large biodiversity of plants and animals of different local climates from cool and humid pre-alpine to warm and dry pannonian and submediterranian.

Austria's largest national park, founded in 1981, comprises an area of 1800 sqkm on both sides of the Alpine main chain, covering the highest parts of Salzburg, Tyrol, and Carinthia, with deeply cut valleys shaped by ice-age, and 130 sqkm of recent glaciers. Flora and fauna are very diversified. Hohe Tauern National Park is the home of some 10,000 different species of animals. Alpine flora and fauna are represented there almost in complete, with even a few endemic species.

Naturpark Oetztal, a protected Alpine area in Tyrol, Austria, was founded in 2006. It covers an area of 380 sqkm from 1.276m to 3.768m a.s.l., including 80 sqkm of glaciers. In 1991, the "Iceman" was found in that region - a 5300 years old prehistorical hunter's well preserved frozen mummy. The area houses a number of rare species, e.g. the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), the Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria), the Alpine Apollo (Parnassius sacerdos), the Yellow Tiger Moth (Arctia flavia)...