Ireland’s biggest astrophotography competition is now open for entries.
This year, for the first time, under-18s can enter the smartphone category, “Night Sky in your Hand”, which is open for images taken only with a smartphone of an astronomical scene and without telescopes.
Other categories are: “Out of this World” – Planetary; “Out of this World” – Deep Sky; “Back on Earth” – Landscape; and “Back on Earth” – Landmark.
The Reach for the Stars photography competition is organised by the school of astronomy and astrophysics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS).
Entrants can submit up to two images, taken in Ireland between April 26th last year and June 2nd this year, per category. The deadline for entries is 5pm on June 4th.
Shortlisted entrants will be announced in late June. The public are also invited to vote for their favourite to win the people’s choice category.
The judging panel is made up of: Alan Betson, The Irish Times; Michael McCreary, president, Irish Astronomical Society; Professor Peter Gallagher, senior professor and head of astronomy and astrophysics at DIAS; and Dr Lisa McNamee, co-founder, Space Medicine Ireland.
The winning photographers in the “Out of this World” and “Back on Earth” categories will have their images published on the DIAS and The Irish Times websites and receive passes to three sites of the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland, a €500 voucher for photography equipment and a digital subscription to The Irish Times.
The winner of the public choice category, as voted for by the public, and the winner of the “Night Sky in your Hand” category will each get a voucher worth €250 for photography equipment and passes to the three sites of the Astronomical Observatories of Ireland.
The winning and highly commended images will also be included in an exhibition at DIAS later this year. All shortlisted images will be included in an online exhibition, for the public vote, on the competition website.
DIAS’s Reach for the Stars competition is being run in partnership with The Irish Times and is sponsored by MKC Communications and The Astronomical Observatories of Ireland. The Irish Astronomical Society are initiative supporters.
More information, including the competition guidelines and entry form, is available at www.reachforthestars.ie
