Royal Meteorological Society’s (RMetS) Weather Photographer of the Year 2019 competition is hosted on Photocrowd.com, and Photocrowd’s Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy apply. Details of RMetS privacy policy can be viewed here.

In addition please note the following in relation to Weather Photographer of the Year 2019:

The competition owner is Royal Meteorological Society, 104 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 7LL in association with MeteoGroup and Photocrowd.

The competition is global and open to people of all nationalities. The Young Weather Photographer of the Year is only open to photographers aged 17 years or under on the 30th June 2019. The standard lower age limit of 13 for setting up a Photocrowd account is applied so the minimum age of entrants is 13.

Employees or agents of the Royal Meteorological Society, MeteoGroup or Photocrowd, their families or other persons connected with this promotion (excluding the sponsors) are not eligible to enter. Members of the Royal Meteorological Society are eligible to enter the competition. Should prospective entrants be in any doubt as to their eligibility, then confirmation from the Owner should be sought by emailing comms@rmets.org.

Entrants under the age of 18 at the closing date of the competition must gain the permission of a parent or guardian to enter the competition. It is the responsibility of each entrant (and the entrant's parent or guardian) to ensure that they have read and will abide by these rules and Photocrowd’s terms and conditions. By submitting an entry, each entrant (and the entrant's parent or guardian) agrees to these rules, that their entry complies with these rules, and that they will be liable to the Promoter and their licensees in respect of any damages or losses incurred as a breach of the Rules.

No entries will be accepted by email or post. A maximum of 5 entries are permitted per entrant.


Weather is defined as 'the state of the atmosphere at a particular place and time as regards heat, cloudiness, dryness, sunshine, wind, rain, etc.'.


For the Royal Meteorological Society’s Weather Photographer of the Year we are looking for images that capture the beauty, power, occasional absurdity and fragility in the face of human activity. This could include:
clouds,
• precipitation such as rain, snow or hail
• frost or ice
• fog
• optical phenomena such as rainbows, fogbows, halos, sundogs etc
• lightning
• tornadoes

Images can also capture the impact of weather on people and our surroundings, such as
• wind
• floods
• heatwaves
• droughts

We would encourage entries which show the milky way and the Aurora Borealis to also include some weather phenomena as on their own they are not weather related and there are other competitions which deal with astronomical subjects. 

Images (including similar images taken from the same series of photographs) that have previously won a national or international photography award (including winner, runner-up or highly commended), or are entered into a competition where the results are pending, are not eligible for entry. This excludes free-to-enter Photocrowd contests.

Adjustment to levels, curves, colour balance, colour saturation, dodging and burning, selective adjustments using layers and blemish, and dust spot removal are all examples of acceptable manipulation.

Excessive cloning out/removal of elements within the image, merging two images or more and replacing backgrounds, are all examples of processes that will invalidate an entry in all categories.

The Owner reserves the right to request a copy of the original camera file from the entrant, and to eliminate entries where such a request is ignored or where it is suspected that the rules have been infringed.


Full guidelines on permissible image sizes and types, and what image manipulation and retouching is allowed are provided on the page on this website.

Entrants are reminded that they are responsible for obtaining any necessary licences that may be required to photograph protected areas. Proof may be requested by the Promoter and entries disqualified where it is suspected the relevant permissions.

Full disclosure of the techniques employed should be provided at the point of image upload in the image description. The Owner reserves the right to disqualify any entry where they suspect either full disclosure has not been made or where the methods employed by the photographer are judged to breach the ethical code of conduct. It is the responsibility of the Entrant to ensure that the relevant permissions have been obtained when photographing on private land.

The initial judging will take the form of an elimination round scored online by a large panel of experts, producing a shortlist of images in each of the Categories.

The shortlist of panel-judged images, and the full ranking of crowd-rated images will be announced in August/September 2019.

Once the shortlisted images are announced, the public vote will open. The public will be able to vote for their favourite image on the shortlist through the Photocrowd website.

The panel-judged category winners and runners-up will be decided upon by the judging panel. The public vote winner is decided solely by the public vote on the Photocrowd website.

Each of the category winning photographs will receive a prize as stated in the category descriptions.

Winners will be notified following a formal announcement at the prize ceremony to be held in October/November 2019 (time and venue at the Promoter's discretion).

All imagery MUST be the total and exclusive work of the submitting photographer and may not include any element that is the copyright of another. The Copyright for each image entered will remain with its respective photographer. By entering the Competition and submitting your photograph(s), you hereby grant the Owner, its sponsor and their hosting partner Photocrowd a non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use your photograph(s) for any purpose connected with the Competition, including (but not limited to), promoting the Competition within printed and online media, the inclusion within printed and digital versions of the Competition book, the inclusion within printed and digital versions of the Competition calendar and other merchandise, display at exhibitions, publication in other magazines or print media which the Owners (or their official partners, supporters, or sponsors) may produce, use in press, promotional and marketing materials, social media networks and for the promotion of any future photographic competition in both print and online media. All images will be credited to the photographer where used (eg ©photographers name).

Other commercial opportunities may exist for photographers. Where such a commercial benefit is likely to arise, permission will be sought by the Owners in advance.

By entering the Competition, the entrant agrees to maintain the highest standards in all matters relating to the Competition and not to do or say anything that does or might damage the reputation of the Owners, the Competition, the other entrants, or the official partners, supporters, or sponsors of the Competition, the Exhibition or the Touring Exhibition. The entrant acknowledges that entry into the Competition does not grant any rights in any intellectual property rights of the Competition and/or the Owners, and agrees not to use any names, logos or other intellectual property rights of any of them or to make any public statement regarding any of them without the prior written consent of the Owners.

The Owner is excluded from liability for any loss, damage or injury which might occur to the winner arising from his or her acceptance of the prize. The entrant will indemnify the Owner for all liabilities, including legal costs, in relation to any action or complaint taken by any third party against the Promoter in relation to the entrant’s photograph(s).

The Owner reserves the right to amend these Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by English law. When a photograph is submitted and the entry date has passed, the entry cannot be changed or withdrawn. Entries for the competition are free. Entry to the Awards shall be deemed full and unconditional acceptance of the terms & conditions.