weather photographer of the year 2020 announced

now on its fifth edition, the royal meteorological society (RMetS) has announced the winner of the weather photographer of the year 2020. created in association with accuweather, the competition attracted over 7,700 photographs while providing a platform for weather photography, showcasing the phenomenon in its widest sense. rudolf’s sulgan’s image of new york’s brooklyn bridge hit by a blizzard was chosen as the winner by a panel of judges out of a shortlist of 26 images.

(main) image ‘blizard’ © rudolf sulgan (winner)
(above) image ‘tea hills’ © vu trung huan (first runner-up)

‘the weather affects all of our lives and this picture captures that perfectly,’ comments liz bentley, chief executive of the royal meteorological society (RMetS) and panel judge. ‘brooklyn bridge provides an iconic backdrop, but it is the combined effect of snow, wind and freezing temperatures on the people trying to cross the bridge that tells the whole story – it sends a shiver down my spine.’

‘monster’
image © maja kraljik.jpg

the competition also announced the young weather photographer of the year 2020 (17 and under category), awarding frozen life, an image by 17-year-old kolesnik stephanie sergeevna, from russia. ‘the photo is of a leaf stuck in the ice. I wanted to take this shot because it is a part of sunny summer frozen in ice. time seems to have stopped for this leaf,’ said the photographer. the public also had its say, casting 11,275 votes and awarding the public favorite prize to alexey trofimov for an image taken in siberia titled baikal treasure. chosen also by the judging panel, the runner ups were: vu trung huan (first runner-up); and maja kraljik (second runner-up).

‘the best photos make me feel like I was there when they took it, as if I were having their experience,’ concluded judge jesse ferrell, accuweather expert meteorologist and social media manager.

‘frozen life’ (young photographer of the year 2020)
image © kolesnik stephanie sergeevna