The winners of the 2026 Association of Photographers’ (AOP) Student Awards have been announced at a special event on the evening of Friday 17 July 2026 as part of Free Range, the graduate showcase of creative arts at London’s Truman Brewery from 16 to 26 July 2026. Their work can also be seen online at AOP Student Awards.
Look at this year’s images, and you will discover that they are often playful, at times surreal, and connect strongly with the natural world. The Awards reflect the AOP’s continuing commitment to shining a light on the next generation of photographers and image makers.
These annual awards present a diverse array of talent from students across the UK, representing 21 different UK photography courses from Higher National Diploma to Masters in Arts. This year, the 41st, sees 50 entries from 48 individuals divided across the three categories — People; Places; Things — of which there are gold and silver recipients with one overall winner.
The Best in Show overall winner, Rupert Allen (BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, University of Gloucestershire) receives a £2,500 Fujifilm UK kit prize, and a one-year Capture One Studio subscription for his series Church of Coal. This documentary project uses large format photography to record both the coal miners who used to work, and those who still continue to work, in the last working drift colliery in Western Europe, in South Wales.
All entries are selected blind by individual category judges, with the full judging panel coming together to select Best In Show. In addition, Rupert Allen received Gold for the People category.
Category gold winners receive a complimentary one-year subscription to Capture One ‘All in One’ and a tailored AOP membership package to support the start of their professional careers.
Rupert Allen, winner of Best In Show says of his winning series Church of Coal: “In collaboration with the NUM (National Union of Miners) in Pontypridd, and the National Museum Wales, this project has taken me across South Wales, searching for answers to my question: what happened to the miners; what happened to the collieries; and how have they both adapted in the 21st century?
“Hearing their stories, and documenting them as they are now, has allowed me a glimpse into the real people and the real places.
“The goal was to understand what really happened and what a select few have done to overcome the crisis that rocked much of industrial Britain.
“As with their age now, there
is not much time left before these people fade into obscurity and out of the public mind, much like the ruins of the halls and mines they once worked in.”
The winners of the 2026 AOP Photography Awards
Best in Show
Rupert Allen (BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, University of Gloucestershire)
People Category (20 finalists)
This category covers any form of people-photography from portraiture to street photography, photojournalism and beyond. The People category is an opportunity to make visual comments about humanity and its ways. In previous ‘portrait’ categories, animal pictures have been featured, but the originators of this category feel that entries this year should feature the human race.
Gold — Rupert Allen (BA (Hons) Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, University of Gloucestershire)
Silver — Anthony Porter (BA (Hons) Professional Photography, Edinburgh College)
Places (14 finalists)
Rather than duplicate possible locations such as landscapes and architecture, The AOP offers this category which provides unlimited
opportunities.
Gold — Lorena Bujalance Jimenez, (HND Photography, City Of Glasgow College)
Silver — Gemma McNaughton, (BA (Hons) Professional Photography, Edinburgh College)
Things (14 finalists)
This category covers almost everything else. Think Irving Penn’s found objects, Mapplethorpe’s flowers, Ori Gersht’s explosions, cats, dogs, bats and monkeys by Tim Flach, and sublime still-lifes by Richard Maxted and then make something unique and sensational.
Gold — Ed Butty (Media with Communications, University of Leeds)
Silver — Megan Dickson (BA (Hons) Photography, Norwich University of the Arts (x2 nominations)
Judging
The judges for the AOP 2026 Student Awards are: People — Aneesa Dawoojee, award-winning AOP accredited portrait and social documentary photographer and photographic educator; Places — Greg Funnell, AOP accredited photographer who has spent the last two decades working across over 70 countries; and Things — Eleanor Harrison, founder/director at photography agency Pearson Lyle Management Ltd.
Eleanor Harrison, judge of the Things category as well as Best in Show, says of Rupert Allen’s Best in Show win: “All three judges were really taken with the narrative maturity and sensitivity of this series. It was a glorious use of both black and white imagery for true visual storytelling.”
Entry to the awards
Entry to the AOP Student Awards 2026 is open to all students (including those from overseas) studying photography in the UK at Further Education level or higher. The AOP Student Awards were established in the early 1980s, to recognise and highlight emerging photographic talent, which existed in further education institutions across the UK.
Many of the AOP Student Awards winners go on to become discovery winners as assisting photographers and then as professional photographers for the AOP Photography Awards, as the organisation prides itself on nurturing talented photographers throughout their career.
Bottom Left © Louise Thomson. Bottom Centre © L.C. Daniels. Bottom Right © Jianuan Xu
Isabelle Doran, CEO of The AOP, explains, “Our annual AOP Student Awards are acknowledged as an industry standard for identifying the next generation of talent. This year, our professional judges had a Herculean task whittling down the finalists for our 2026 AOP Student Awards, and I’m genuinely impressed with their selection of still and moving images.
“Whether it’s people, places, or things as the categories, the undiluted perspectives from this year’s finalists shows confidence and consideration for the subject matters they’ve photographed; some challenge our perspectives, while others celebrate authenticity. We are looking forward to celebrating their achievements and look forward to seeing where they head.”
A gallery of award-winning work
Bottom Left © Phil Crow. Bottom Centre © Polly White. Bottom Right © Chloe Shelton
Lauren Drage, Marketing Manager, Fujifilm Electronic Imaging, says of Fujifilm’s partnership with the AOP’s Student Awards, “Fujifilm is delighted to support the next generation of photographers through the AOP’s Student Awards in 2026. We believe in nurturing creativity
and innovation in the field of photography and imaging, and look forward to seeing the incredible talent that emerges from this competition.”
Best in Show plus Gold and Silver winners, along with selected finalists, will have the chance to be showcased and appear in the official 41st AOP Photography Awards Book which is published in time for the AOP Awards Showcase on 9 September 2026.
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