The competition was judged by a panel of three distinguished astrophotographers - Alex Cherney, Peter Ward, and Selena Simpson. They determined the winners in each category plus the honourable mentions and highly commendeds. From these they chose the Overall Winner.
Peter Ward
Peter Ward (B.Sc. ATPL AIPA) has been photographing the sky for over five decades and is one of Australia’s most lauded astrophotographers. His images have won over 60 national and international awards. He was the Deep Sky photography winner for the coveted Royal Greenwich Observatory Astronomy photographer of the Year awards in 2020.
Peter was an Associate Editor at Southern Astronomy and Sky and Space magazines. His astrophotography has been published on the web, local and national newspapers, numerous magazines, text books and have featured in a national advertising campaign and have been screened on national television . He was a vetting judge for the inaugural CWAS Malin awards in 2004 and was guest judge for the RASNZ Astrophotographic competition in 2016.
His portfolio is extremely diverse. He has won every photographic category of the CWAS David Malin awards showing mastery over an impressive range of imaging techniques using varied cameras, lenses, telescopes, filters, focal lengths and software to create unique, compelling images of the heavens.
Alex Cherney
Alex lives in Melbourne, Australia where he works as IT consultant and enjoys observing and photographing southern night sky.
Daughter’s kindergarten project on Space inspired Alex to take up astronomy and astrophotography in 2007. He developed a passion for time-lapse photography and travels throughout Australia and the world to photograph the most beautiful landscapes under the stars of the Milky Way. Alex loves to connect ocean, land and sky in his work.
His images and videos were published on covers of Science, Nature and other well-known astronomy magazines, book, numerous NASA APODs and won prestigious Australian and international awards. Alex holds a Master of Science degree in Astronomy by the Swinburne Technology University (2018, Melbourne).
Alex is a passionate astronomer and an active member of Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society and ASV. He enjoys helping out to get people involved with astronomy at public and school viewing nights.
Alex is a member of TWAN and his recent images and videos can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Vimeo.
Selena Simpson
Selina Simpson is the Master Printer at MakePrints Studios in Sydney.
Selina is responsible for printing many of the most important exhibitions in Australia. She is the go to person for the majority of this country’s top professional photographers. Selena has printed the David malin awards exhibition for over a decade and brings an extremely well developed aesthetic eye to the judging arena. Her mastery of technical photography, colour perception and her deep understanding of framing and composition is a welcome addition to all aspects of judging Astrophotography.
Selina is responsible for printing many of the most important exhibitions in Australia. She is the go to person for the majority of this country’s top professional photographers. Selena has printed the David malin awards exhibition for over a decade and brings an extremely well developed aesthetic eye to the judging arena. Her mastery of technical photography, colour perception and her deep understanding of framing and composition is a welcome addition to all aspects of judging Astrophotography.