Contest

It is that time of year for photographers to submit up to 10 of their best photos to the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2026 competition. Submissions can be made from January 5th to March 2nd. The top prize is worth £10,000, with lesser amounts for category winners, , runners-up, and highly commended entries.

The categories are:

1. Planets, Comets and Asteroids;
2. Aurorae;
3. People and Space;
4. Skyscapes;
5. Our Moon;
6. Our Sun:
7. Stars and Nebulae;
8. Galaxies;
9. ZWO Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year;
10. Special Prize: Best Newcomer; and
11. Special Prize: Annie Maunder Open Category.

You can find all of the 2025 winners here.

The National Space Society (NSS) has announced its sixth Martine Rothblatt Space Settlement in Our Lifetime competition. To compete you only need to (1) be a student, academician, entrepreneur, or member of the broader space community – which is pretty broad – and (2) develop a business plans that will help to enable space settlement in the coming decades. Award-winning plans can win between $6,000 and $16,000.

Entries are due by February 15, 2026. If you are among the three finalists, you will be invited to the NSS annual International Space Development Conference in McLean, Virginia, which is held from June 4-7, 2026.

Here is some information on the 2025 winners if you need some ideas:

The first place award went to Anjan Balakrishnan and Nicholas Iraj Baumann of Georgetown University for their plan called Radiation Protection Solutions, an advanced, sandwiched design for radiation shielding for deep space missions. Second place went to Dr. Richard Nederlander and his team from Spargo Space Corp., featuring a business plan for orbital propellant depots. Third place went to Trent Tresch for his plan called StratoLabs, a self-contained, high-altitude balloon kit for independent aeronauts and researchers.

For more details on the competition, click here.