Royal Meteorological Society’s (RMetS) Weather Photographer of the Year 2021 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 2021:

The competition promoter is Royal Meteorological Society (RMetS), 104 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 7LL in association with AccuWeather (sponsor) and Photocrowd.

The competition is open to professional and amateur photographers of any nationality but is subject to the laws of England and Wales. Entrants from outside the UK must adhere to local laws.

The Young Weather Photographer of the Year category is only open to photographers aged 13-17 years on the 29th June 2021. The standard lower age limit of 13 for setting up a Photocrowd account is applied so the minimum age of entrants is 13.

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.

Employees or agents of the Royal Meteorological Society, AccuWeather 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 Promoter should be sought by emailing comms@rmets.org.

Please read the 'What is Weather' page for full guidelines on what the judges will be assessing,

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

Photographs that have been submitted into other competitions (including free-to-enter Photocrowd contests) will be accepted but photographs which have won a national or international competition (winner, runner-up, shortlisted or commended), or are entered into a national or international competition where the results are pending, are not eligible for entry, and by entering a photograph you warrant that it has not previously been awarded, and will not soon be awarded, in a national or international competition in this capacity.

Submitted entries must not deceive the viewer or attempt to disguise or misrepresent the reality of a scene. Therefore some restrictions on the use of digital manipulation of images apply.

Images submitted to Weather Photographer of the Year 2021 must essentially show the scene and subjects as they were shot and must not combine multiple different elements into one frame. Entries that use fundamentally different subjects or backgrounds brought together into one image are not allowed, even if you have shot all the components yourself.

Examples of what is not allowed:
- the use of sky replacement packs and software
- incorporating other weather elements into a scene that were not in the original shot, including (but not limited to) lightning bolts, clouds, rain, tornadoes, waves and rainbows.
- incorporating people or animals into a scene that were not in the original shot.

Computer generated images will not be accepted.

Artwork and illustrations will not be accepted.

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 have not been obtained. It is also the responsibility of the Entrant to ensure that the relevant permissions have been obtained when photographing on private land.

Additional Full guidelines on permissible image sizes and types, and what image manipulation is advised and retouching is allowed are provided in the FAQs section under ‘How should I prepare my images for submission?’.

The Promoter reserves the right to request a copy of the original camera file and a screengrab of your indexing software showing other images from the same shoot. We reserve the right to eliminate entries where such a request is ignored or where it is suspected that the rules have been infringed.

Full disclosure of the techniques employed should be provided at the point of image upload in the image description. The Promoter 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 e.g. use of a camera other than a mobile phone or tablet for the mobile phone category.

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 the main ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’ category.

The shortlist of panel-judged images from the main ‘Weather Photographer of the Year’ category will be announced in August 2021. 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 ‘Young Weather Photographer of the Year’ and ‘Mobile Weather Photographer of the Year’ categories will not produce a shortlist or a public vote, and the final results will simply be decided by the judging panel.

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.

Feedback will not be given on any individual entry’s score or position, and certificates are not issued to participants.

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 WeatherLive on 16 October 2021.

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 submitting images to this competition, the entrant confirms and warrants that they have the permission of anyone pictured in the image (or, where the image shows any persons under 18, the consent of their parent/guardian) for the usage rights required by the promoter and will indemnify the promoter against any claims made by any third parties in respect of such infringement.

By submitting images the entrant confirms that any necessary permissions from the owner(s) of objects including buildings included in submitted images for the usage rights required by promoter and will indemnify the sponsor and the Promoter against any claims made by any third parties in respect of such infringement.

By entering the Competition and submitting your photograph(s), you hereby grant the Promoter, 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 any subsequent book relating to the competition, 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. In context of the above, the Promoter, its sponsor and hosting partner Photocrowd, reserve the right to make minor edits to the image for publication purposes e.g. resize or crop. In doing so they will maintain the photographer’s copyright and will not manipulate the image out of recognition.

By submitting images the entrant confirms that they have not licensed or disposed of any rights in the image that would conflict with uses to be made by the promoter.

All images will be credited to the photographer where used by the Promoter and Photocrowd (eg ©photographers name). We request that all 3rd party media outlets covering ‘Weather Photographer of the Year 2021’ also fully credit images used with the photographer’s name, although this cannot be enforced. The Promoter and Photocrowd accept no liability for the failure of any third party media outlet to credit images to the photographer.

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

The Promoter and the sponsor does not accept any liability for the publication of unlawfully reproduced images.

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 Promoter, 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 Promoter, 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 Promoter.

The Promoter 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 Promoter and the sponsor 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 Promoter 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.