Feastival organiers were pleased to receive 46 entries in the first round of the fungi photo competition.

Rob Evans, a local professional photographer was selected to judge the entries.

Mr Evans, of Artessence Gallery in Pambula, is a photographer with an extensive catalogue of stunning coastal and hinterland images taken around Pambula, Merimbula, Eden and the Snowy Mountains.

Rob judged the anonymised fungi images and described them as "wonderful" and "a joy to view".

"I worked through each of the photographs using a combination of technical and artistic criteria." he said.

"On the technical side I looked at whether they have appropriate focus, lighting and contrast for the subject of the image. Artistically, I then considered the extent to which the image caught my imagination and the effectiveness of the composition.

"I then ranked them by adding a 'wow' factor score to the technical and artistic scores to get a top 10 in order.

"The top two images used very different techniques, they are of equally high quality, resulting in a tie for first place," Mr Evans said.

The equal first place winners of the first round of Fungi Feastival's 2024 Photographic Competition were Jeanette Robben and Ben Smyth.

Jeanette's winning mushroom image was taken near Batemans Bay and was likely the common ink cap Coprinopsis atramentaria.

Ben's image taken near Merimbula was of the ghost fungus Omphalotus nidiformis.

Special mention also went to photographers Allison Aitken and Ashley Smart whose images were also highly commended.

The two first place winners will receive copies of fungi ecologist, writer and photographer Alison Pouliot's fungi books.

Entries were already coming in for the second round of the competition, which closes on June 10.

Following the second round an overall winner will be selected. Prizes include fungi books, mushroom growing kits and truffle hunts.

For details on how to enter the fungi photo competition, click here.