The competition is now in its eighteenth year and is open to all ages and abilities across the globe. Entrants have from Monday 5 January 2026 until midday on Monday 2 March 2026 to submit their work. Up to ten images can be entered into various categories via (entry fees apply, for more information check the competition rules).
100 breathtaking images, including all the winners, runners-up and highly commended entries, from the ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 18 competition will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from September 2026. The competition has eight main categories:
-
Skyscapes: Landscape and cityscape images of twilight and the night sky featuring the Milky Way, star trails, meteor showers, comets, conjunctions, constellation rises, halos and noctilucent clouds alongside elements of earthly scenery
-
Aurorae: Photographs featuring the Northern and Southern Lights
-
People and Space: Photographs of the night sky including people or a human-interest element
-
Our Sun: Solar images including solar eclipses and transits
-
Our Moon: Lunar images including lunar eclipses and occultations of planets
-
Planets, Comets and Asteroids: Everything else in our Solar System, including planets and their satellites, comets, asteroids and other forms of zodiacal debris
-
Stars and Nebulae: Deep-space objects within the Milky Way galaxy, including stars, star clusters, supernova remnants, nebulae and other intergalactic phenomena
-
Galaxies: Deep-space objects beyond the Milky Way, including galaxies, galaxy clusters and stellar associations
Young Astronomy Photographer #
As well as the main categories, ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year includes the ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, which is open to budding astronomers under the age of 16, and two special prizes, Best Newcomer and the Annie Maunder Open Category.
The Best Newcomer prize is open to amateur photographers who have taken up astrophotography in the past year and have not entered an image to the competition previously. The Annie Maunder Open Category recognises the best photo processed using any form of astronomical data, bringing together the worlds of the arts, astronomy and astrophotography. The prize allows photographers to submit entries making use of their own astrophotography, as well as publicly available data. This category encourages innovative concepts and creative processing and entrants may use any software, analogue or digital manipulation, or AI processing to produce their image but AI-generated data or any other artificial data are not eligible. You can visit to learn more about the changes to the prize.
Submissions #
Entries to the competition must be submitted by 2 March 2026, and the winning images will be showcased in the annual exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, opening in September 2026.
Photographers can enter online by visiting. Each entrant may submit up to ten images to the competition.
Sam Wen, Founder and CEO of ZWO stated that “ee are deeply honoured to continue our sponsorship of ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year, a celebration of those who turn the night sky into art. Each new edition reminds us how boundless human imagination can be. We cannot wait to see the visions photographers will share this year — images that reveal distant galaxies, quiet moonlit landscapes, and moments of wonder only the night can offer. We encourage everyone to take part, to lift their gaze, and to let the universe speak through their lenses.”
When #
The winners of Royal Observatory Greenwich’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 18 will be announced at an award ceremony in September 2026. The winning photographs will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum alongside a selection of shortlisted images.
Prizes #
The overall winner will receive £10,000. Winners of all other categories and the photographer named winner in the ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition will receive £1,500. There are also prizes for runners-up (£500) and highly commended (£250) entries. The special prize winners will receive £750. All the winning entrants will receive a one-year subscription to BBC Sky at Night Magazine.
Contact [Notaspampeanas](mailto: notaspampeanas@gmail.com)