Beaker Street science photography prize unveils 26 finalists for 2026

The Beaker Street Science Photography Prize named 26 finalists from more than 100 entries, and the shortlist made a clear case for how science photography wins readers over: with access, timing, composition and a story that lands fast. As Beaker Street’s 10th anniversary festival, themed The Second Act, approaches, the prize is again proving that scientific images can be both visually striking and easy to understand at a glance.

The 2026 finalists will feed into the annual Beaker Street Festival in Nipaluna/Hobart, where finalist works are exhibited each August at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The top 12 images will go on display there during the festival, which runs from 6-17 August 2026. That makes the shortlist more than a gallery of attractive frames. It is a public-facing showcase for photography that has to hold attention while also revealing something useful about the natural world, research or a process that would otherwise stay hidden.

Beaker Street opened the competition to amateur and professional photographers, and 2026 marked the first year entries were welcomed from photographers across Australia. Even with that broader reach, the rules stayed tightly defined: every submitted image had to be captured in Lutruwita/Tasmania or the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, and AI-generated imagery was not eligible. That keeps the prize rooted in real-world observation, fieldcraft and the technical patience that science subjects often demand.

The judging panel brought together science communicator and astrophysicist Dr Kirsten Banks, Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year for astrophotography Marley Butler, and scientific editor Simon Grove, senior curator of invertebrate zoology at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The prize’s Judges’ Choice Award carries $1,000 in cash, while the People’s Choice Prize is a Pennicott Wilderness Journeys voucher for two. Beaker Street said the prize is sponsored by the Pennicott Foundation, with support from Full Gamut and other Tasmanian businesses that contribute prizes.

Beaker Street, a Tasmanian science and arts organisation and registered charity launched in 2017, has turned the prize into a fixture that bridges image-making and science communication. Past finalist sets have mixed landscape, macro, astrophotography and ecological storytelling, from red handfish embryos and kelp forests to slime moulds, aurorae and microscopy subjects. The 2026 shortlist fits that pattern: photographs that do more than document science, because they make it legible, shareable and worth studying.