Astrophotography Contest: Entry Dates, Routes and Rules for 2026
Two astrophotography contest calendars are open or opening in 2026. UK Astronomy accepts photo competition entries from 1 January until the closing date of 31 October 2026, and the Royal Astronomical Society opens RAStroPhoto to all entrants on 1 November 2026, closing at 23:59:59 GMT on 15 January 2027. Both organisers take submissions through their own websites: UK Astronomy through the online entry form at the bottom of its competition page, the Royal Astronomical Society through the Enter page of its competition website.
By BuyVotesForContest editorial desk ยท Updated
Two calendars worth noting
The clearest fact about any astrophotography contest is its calendar, and two calendars are on record for this season. UK Astronomy accepts photo competition entries from 1 January until the closing date on 31 October of each year. That window runs through the core of the northern hemisphere's milky-way season, which gives an entrant most of a year to shoot, select and submit. The deadline is the same every year, so a missed round costs twelve months.
The Royal Astronomical Society works on a winter schedule. Its RAStroPhoto competition opens to all entrants on 1 November 2026 and closes at 23:59:59 GMT on 15 January 2027. Read together, the two schedules are complementary rather than competing: one closes as the other opens, and an entrant rejected or uninspired in the autumn round can rework a set for the winter one. Note that the Society states its closing time to the second, which signals that late submissions are not a grey area.
- UK Astronomy: entries from 1 January to 31 October each year.
- RAStroPhoto: entries from 1 November 2026 to 15 January 2027.
- Together the two windows cover almost the whole shooting year.
Where the rules actually live
Both organisers keep their rules where the entries go. UK Astronomy states that photo competition submissions must be made using the online entry form at the bottom of its competition page, which means the form and the rules sit on the same page. Anyone who wants to share link details with a club or a class can point at that single page and be correct on the date, the route and the conditions at once.
This matters more than it sounds. A screenshot of a deadline travels well on social media and ages badly, because organisers revise rules between rounds and an old screenshot never does. The reliable habit is to share link pages, not summaries: the organiser's own competition page carries the current window, the current form and the current category list. Two minutes on the official page beats a forwarded list of dates that nobody can trace. Photo competitions reward people who read the source, and the source here is short.
- The entry form is the rulebook in practice.
- Dates on a blog post are not dates in the rules.
- Submission route is part of eligibility, not a convenience.
Entering through the form
Entry is a route question before it is a photography question. UK Astronomy names its route precisely: the online entry form at the bottom of the competition page. Nothing in the published text suggests an email alternative or a social-media alternative, and an entrant who invents one takes a risk the rules do not cover. Fill in the form on the page itself, keep the confirmation it gives, and the submission is on record.
The Royal Astronomical Society is equally direct about RAStroPhoto. All entries must be submitted via the competition website, through the Enter page, and the Society says so in its own submission instructions. An astrophotography contest with a dedicated entry portal usually runs on that portal for good reason: it collects the file, the entrant's details and the rule acceptance in one place, and it gives the organiser a single list to judge from. Treat the portal as the only door. A beautiful image in the wrong inbox is, for judging purposes, no image at all.
- UK Astronomy: the online entry form at the bottom of its competition page.
- RAStroPhoto: the Enter page on the competition website.
- Both organisers name exactly one accepted route each.
Beginner sections and adult fields
Section structure is where hopeful entrants guess most and read least. The rules on record here do not name a beginner section for either competition, and neither organiser's published text describes how a novice class would be included in the adult field. That silence is itself the answer to the common question: whether a beginner section exists is a fact of the entry form, printed in the category list, and it is checked there in a minute.
What the silence does not mean is that beginners are shut out. RAStroPhoto is open to all entrants by the Society's own wording, and the UK Astronomy window runs all year with no stated skill filter. An astrophotography contest that welcomes everyone will place a first-time shooter in the same judging pool as a veteran unless the form says otherwise, and that is worth knowing before submitting rather than after. Choose the category the form offers, enter it honestly, and let the image speak for the level of experience.
- A beginner section is real only when the form lists it.
- Adult competition fields absorb everyone else.
- Category choice is made at entry, not at judging.
Winners and how rounds conclude
Because UK Astronomy runs its competition each year, winners exist for each completed round, and the same logic holds for the Society's annual RAStroPhoto event. People do participate and do win in similar contests; the record of who won is kept by the organiser, which makes it the honest place to look. Winning images from an astronomy photo competition tell an entrant more than any tips list, because they are the standard a judge actually paid attention to.
How a round concludes is the organiser's decision, and the published texts here describe entry mechanics, not judging panels. That is normal. An astrophotography contest keeps its jury or its scoring method internal, announces results on its own schedule, and communicates with entrants through the channel it named at entry. What an entrant controls is the submission: correct window, correct route, correct category. Everything after that belongs to the organiser, and patience is part of the entry fee in the non-monetary sense.
- Annual competitions have winners on record from every past round.
- Studying past winners is free calibration.
- The organiser's announcement is the only result that counts.
Disqualification and the honest no
Disqualification in photo competitions is usually administrative before it is artistic. The two rules on record here draw the boundaries clearly: UK Astronomy closes on 31 October and takes entries only through its online form, while the Society closes RAStroPhoto on 15 January 2027 and takes submissions only through its Enter page. Cross either line and the image is out regardless of quality. An entrant who wants a fair contest should want those lines enforced, since they are what keep the judging pool honest.
One more line deserves plain words. Where a photo competition includes a public vote, buying votes for that contest is the shortcut that ends the story: organisers log patterns, compare them against the rules they published, and strike entries that fail the comparison. No seller offers a guarantee that survives an organiser's own checks, and any claim of invisibility is a promise nobody behind a counter can keep. The boring route is the durable one. Enter on the form, inside the window, under your own name, and let the image carry the argument.
- Wrong route: submissions outside the named form or portal fail.
- Wrong window: an image after the closing date is not an entry.
- Traffic manipulation: organisers watch voting patterns where voting exists.
| Requirement | UK Astronomy | Royal Astronomical Society |
|---|---|---|
| Entry window | 1 January to 31 October each year | 1 November 2026 to 15 January 2027 |
| Submission route | Online entry form at the bottom of the competition page | Enter page on the competition website |
| Closing precision | Stated as a calendar-year closing date | Stated to the second, at 23:59:59 GMT |
Step by step
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Pick your window
Decide which calendar fits your shooting season. UK Astronomy runs from 1 January to 31 October each year, and RAStroPhoto runs from 1 November 2026 to 15 January 2027. An autumn shooter can realistically enter both.
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Open the official entry route
Go to the organiser's competition page and use the route it names. UK Astronomy requires the online entry form at the bottom of its page; the Royal Astronomical Society requires the Enter page on the competition website.
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Read the form before the photo
The entry form carries the category list, the section structure and any file requirements. Confirm whether a beginner section exists and how it is included before you choose a category, because category choice is locked in at submission.
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Submit early and keep proof
Submit well before the closing date, since the Society states its deadline to the second and neither organiser names a grace period. Save the confirmation the form gives you, so a disputed entry has a record behind it.
Questions
Best astrophotography photo competitions?
Two stand out for published, dated rules. UK Astronomy runs an annual photo competition open from 1 January to 31 October, and the Royal Astronomical Society runs RAStroPhoto from 1 November 2026 to 15 January 2027. Both are open competitions with a defined submission route, which is the first thing to check before judging appeal or prizes.
Has anyone participated in other similar contests or perhaps even won any?
Yes. UK Astronomy runs its competition each year, so winners exist for every past round, and the Royal Astronomical Society positions RAStroPhoto as an annual event with the same structure. People have participated in similar contests and have won them; past winning images are the fastest way to calibrate your own work, because they show what a judge rewarded rather than what a forum praised.
Could you share a link with me?
Take the link to share from the organiser itself. UK Astronomy hosts its entry form at the bottom of its own competition page, and the Royal Astronomical Society sends entrants to the Enter page of its competition website. Search the organiser's name together with the competition name, and the official page will sit at the top of the results.
Is the beginner section included in the adult competition?
Not in the rules published here. Neither organiser's entry text names a beginner section or describes how one would be included in the adult competition, so the category list on each entry form is the place to confirm it. If a form lists a novice or beginner class, that class enters separately; if it does not, every entrant competes in the same field.
What gets an astrophotography entry disqualified?
Missing the window or bypassing the route. UK Astronomy closes entries on 31 October and accepts them only through its online form, while the Royal Astronomical Society closes RAStroPhoto on 15 January 2027 and accepts submissions only through its Enter page. An image sent outside those dates or through any other channel fails before a judge ever sees it.
Does winning depend on votes?
The published rules quoted here describe an entry route and a closing date, not a public vote, so treat both as judged competitions until an organiser states otherwise. Buying votes for a contest is the move that gets entries struck from judged and voted rounds alike, because organisers log voting patterns and compare them against their own published rules.
Sources
- ukastronomy.org. ukastronomy.org/photo_competition.php.
- ukastronomy.org. ukastronomy.org/photo_competition.php.
- rastrophoto.ras.ac.uk. rastrophoto.ras.ac.uk/about/.
- rastrophoto.ras.ac.uk. rastrophoto.ras.ac.uk/how-to-submit/.
This page carries no price, no guarantee of a win and no promise about how any organiser screens entries. The rules quoted here never state how ties are broken, what prizes are worth or whether a beginner section exists, and nothing on it removes the disqualification risk built into an organiser's own checks.
A contest vote sits under two rulebooks, the platform's and the organiser's. On CuteBaby, voters get ten free daily votes that expire at midnight, and an account needs a South African mobile number. Organisers then enforce their own terms: Darley may disqualify and replace a potential winner who does not follow its rules, and the Queen's Commonwealth Writing Competition disqualifies over-length entries automatically. An order for contest votes changes none of that.
Contest voting has a rhythm of its own. The Arizona State Fair includes live audience voting on every qualifying night, and the Ernie Ball contest measures online activity throughout its contest period. A count that builds across the window, from separate voters, matches that rhythm. None of this is a method for passing an organiser's checks, and an organiser can still disqualify an entry it doubts.
In the United States, the FTC says a real sweepstakes is free and decided by chance, and that a skills contest can ask you to pay to play. Canada's Competition Bureau says a purchase requirement should be prominently disclosed. Those rules govern entry to a sweepstakes or promotion, and whether paying for votes in a contest is lawful where you live is a question for a lawyer. No order is taken for a sweepstakes or other chance draw, for a political ballot, or for a contest whose rules bar outside votes.
The part of an order that never reaches the contest's own count is refunded once the organiser's voting has closed. America's Favorite Pet calls its dates approximate and lets its operator extend deadlines, so that moment is the organiser's to set. A result, a disqualification and a voided vote are never refunded. At IODC, public votes and engagement do not by themselves decide the winners, and no refund changes how a contest weighs them.