The 26 Finalists for the 2026 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize

Jun 08, 2026

Jeremy Gray

A collage of three images: a bright yellow fish, fluffy penguin chicks huddling in snow, and ocean waves glowing blue under a dark sky.

The 2026 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize has unveiled its finalists, and they are a spectacular collection of beautiful, scientifically valuable images captured by photographers and scientists around the world.

This is the 10th anniversary of the Australian Beaker Street Festival. Each year, the competition celebrates fantastic photos of rare and unusual scientific phenomena, endangered species, conservation missions, and much more.

One finalist, First Day, by Armando Ochoa Aguilar, shows one-day-old red handfish hatchlings born as part of a conservation program at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS). Scientists believe there are fewer than 250 red handfish left in the wild. It is among Australia’s most critically endangered marine species.

David Sinclair’s photo, Creche, shows another endangered species, emperor penguins. Sinclair photographed the huddled penguin chicks at the Lazarev colony in November 2024. It was the first known human visit to the site. Emperor penguins were recently reclassified by IUCN as endangered due to the impacts of climate change and accelerating sea ice loss.

Brett Guy’s image, The Holy Grail, documents a smorgasbord of stunning natural phenomena. Guy’s photo shows bioluminescent algae off the coast of Tasmania, aurora Australis, and the Milky Way in a single frame.

A close-up of a platypus swimming in dark, reflective water, with its bill and one eye visible above the surface. — *A Natural Wetsuit* by Alex Wheeler | The Platypus (*Ornithorhynchus anatinus*) has a two‑layered fur for maintaining thermal homeostasis in Tasmania’s cold, freshwater environments. Its outer coat consists of tightly packed guard hairs rich in natural oils that provide water resistance. Beneath this lies a layer of fine, wool‑like underfur that traps a stable layer of air against the skin. Together, these layers form a very effective thermal insulation. The air layer is retained during repeated diving, minimizing convective heat loss when diving in rivers and alpine streams that can approach near‑freezing temperatures. The effectiveness of this insulation enables platypuses to sustain extended foraging, often for up to 12 hours per day without significant drops in core body temperature — essential for the species’ semi‑aquatic lifestyle and its distribution across Tasmania’s colder habitats.

Underwater scene showing clusters of delicate, feathery marine organisms attached to rocks, with long, thin tendrils and a turquoise background suggesting shallow ocean water. — *Underwater Bouquet* by Alison McNeice | These Magnificent, or Stalked Hydroids (*Ralpharia magnifica*) look like a bouquet of underwater flowers, but this animal (yes, animal) is in fact a sessile organism related to the sea jellies. Like sea jellies (jellyfish), they have tentacles with stinging cells that catch prey as it drifts past. They can form small colonies or can live as a single organism, and have a complicated lifecycle that comprises alternating sessile and free-swimming stages. They are still poorly understood, despite being one of the more fascinating underwater sights in our Great Southern Reef.

Close-up of orange-brown autumn leaves and pale moss resting against the textured surface of a weathered tree trunk, creating a natural, earthy composition. — *Trust Fall* by Amber Summers | Fallen leaves of *Nothofagus gunnii*, southern Australia’s only winter-deciduous tree, nestle quietly in a cradle of exposed Fagus wood in Mount Field National Park. Their vibrant copper hues are thanks to seasonal senescence: not just the process of aging, but of chlorophyll degradation and nutrient resorption by the tree ahead of winter’s arrival. The fan-like leaves form a temporary blanket upon the ground, beginning their return to the soil through fungal and microbial decomposition. Underneath, weathered wood exists in a slower timeline, where lignin-rich fibers are reshaped by freeze-thaw cycles and alpine damp. Lichens are abundant here; photosynthetic partners fixing carbon, and living on surfaces where soil is scarce in this high-altitude environment. Together, they exist as a living archive of sub-alpine ecology where growth, decay and renewal are a continuous cycle orchestrated by climate, chemistry and the passage of time.

Two tiny, round, orange baby lumpsucker fish with big eyes and small fins are facing each other against a black background. — *First Day* by Armando Ochoa Aguilar | One-day-old Red Handfish (*Thymichthys politus*) hatchlings. These fish are newborns; therefore, they still display a substantial yolk sac. This structure contains nutrients which provide the fish with a secure food source for the fish during its development in the egg and its first days after emerging. The yolk sac will shrink and disappear as the fish continues growing and feeding from it; eventually, the hatchlings will start to actively look around for other food sources such as small amphipods. These babies are part of the red handfish conservation project at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science. They come from the fishes last breeding season, November 2025. As part of the project, these fish will either be kept at the university for research and further contribution into the captive breeding program or they will be released to contribute to the small and spatially restricted wild population left in Tasmania’s waters.

Leafless, twisted trees stand on a grassy plain under a clear night sky filled with stars and a visible shooting star, creating a serene and slightly eerie atmosphere. — *The Creation of Adam* by Ben Alldridge | Numbering just under 300 and standing for hundreds of years defiant against one of the harshest environments in Australia, the Miena cider gum (*Eucalyptus gunnii subsp. divaricata*) has been a consistent companion for the traditional custodians of the land, the Tyerrernotepanner who have lived beside and relied on nourishment from them for millennia. The Central Plateau’s high altitude, usually dry air, and distance from much of humanity make it an excellent observing locale for astronomy — a pastime sadly being ruined by the relentless acceleration of ‘space junk’ — criss-crossing our skies at hellish pace, and leaving inescapable light trails in its wake. Humans have left indelible marks across virtually every environment on terra firma, such as the relentless march of climate change that has driven the Ciders to the brink of extinction; particularly bad wildfire seasons in the recent decades have wiped out the vast majority of the population, leaving ghostly gnarled remains on the Highland landscape. Terra firma bears our scars, but space at large does not need to.

A vibrant night sky filled with stars and the Milky Way stretches above a calm ocean shore, with glowing bioluminescent waves and a faint yellow-green aurora near the horizon. Dark cliffs frame the scene. — *The Holy Grail* by Brett Guy | Taken on the night of the 23rd April 2023 from South Arm Peninsula, this image features multiple examples of physical processes in action at the same time. A subtle aurora, combined with agitated bioluminescent algae and the core of the Milky Way rising on the southeastern horizon. Capturing all these processes in action in a single image really was like finding the Holy Grail.

A spiral arrangement of 25 images shows the phases of a lunar eclipse, from a bright full moon in the center to increasingly shadowed and reddish moons toward the outer edge, all set against a black background. — *Lunar Spiral — Mt. Pleasant Observatory — Tasmania* by Bronwen Gunning | Humans have been observing and recording celestial events for thousands of years, with lunar eclipses holding a special fascination for us. This total eclipse was designated a ‘blood moon’ due to the reddish hue cast from Earth’s shadow and atmosphere. It was also a supermoon, so called because it appears larger than usual in our sky due to its close proximity to Earth. This moment is called the perigee, at which point the moon is roughly 45, 000 km closer to Earth than when it is at the farthest point in its elliptical orbit. It was a challenging event to observe and image with intermittent cloud cover throughout the night. My image depicts twenty-four separate photographs showing the progression of the eclipse through its many different phases. This image was produced specifically to demonstrate the timeline of the eclipse and is often used by me during public astronomy outreach sessions. Note that only basic photo editing software was used to scale and position the individual images. The spiral arrangement is purely for aesthetic and presentation purposes and doesn’t reflect the ‘movement’ of the moon in the night sky.

A vibrant red mushroom with a smooth cap grows among lush green moss and small ferns in a forest setting, with blurred foliage in the background. — *Hygrocybe Firma* by Charlie Chadwick | *Hygrocybe firma* is a fungus whose very small, red sporing bodies appear in Tasmanian forests in autumn. It has a biotrophic relationship with surrounding vegetation, where the mycelium lives inside or in close contact with plant roots. I like to photograph macro subjects, such as fungi, to show people the beautiful tiny living species that live in the forest that they may not notice on a walk. The red color ‘pops’ amongst the forest greens, often making for lovely color compositions.

A twisted, weathered branch with small, serrated leaves transitions from green to bright red as it grows across rough, lichen-spotted rocks. — *Alpine Overture* by Chelsea Bell | In a time of unrelenting “unprecedented change” it is grounding to remember that there is a beautiful anticipated and constant change occurring in the alpine regions of Tasmania. The ‘Turning of the fagus’ is one of the most spectacular seasonal events to witness. The leaves of the fagus (*Nothofagus gunnii*) are pictured in autumnal transition as they transform from green to a vibrant tapestry of red, yellow, and orange. The vibrant colors gradually come to prominence as the chlorophyll is withdrawn from the leaves first, leaving other pigments to ‘shine’. The spectrum of colors on a single branch illustrates the uneven progression of seasonal change influenced by a delicate balance of local alpine environmental conditions. No matter what unfolds in the world, the turning of the fagus endures. Each year it arrives anew, never the same, but still offering a quiet promise of renewal and something extraordinary still to come.

A ghostly, translucent squid swims in dark water, its tentacles and body illuminated by a bright, yellowish light, creating a blurred effect against the black background. — *A Ghostly Chimaera* by Daniel van Duinkerken | An Australian Ghostshark (*Callorhinchus milii*) scours the seagrass beds of the river Derwent for an easy meal. This is not actually a shark but a ‘Chimaera’. This group of cartilaginous fishes branched off from the sharks and rays nearly 400 million years ago. Members of this species use their plow-shaped snouts to detect prey hidden in the sand. Their snouts are lined with the ‘Ampullae of Lorenzini’, little pores that sense the faint electric fields of potential prey. Ghostsharks also have a large spine on their dorsal fin to fend off large predators, but as you may have noticed, it may be the smaller parasitic predators they need to watch out for. On the back of the fish in the photo, you can see at least four isopods that are feeding off blood and mucus. To emphasize their ghostly appearance with light streaks, I utilized a long exposure with both a flash and dive lights.

A rocky path leads to large boulders under a night sky filled with colorful star trails, indicating the movement of stars over time. Bushes and greenery line the path in the foreground. — *Satellite Trails Over Hobart Skies* by David Nolan | Satellite trails are an increasingly visible sign of human impact on the night sky. As large constellations of satellites expand, long streaks of reflected sunlight appear in astronomical images, interfering with observations and altering the natural darkness of space. This is closely tied to light pollution: while traditional light pollution comes from ground-based sources, satellites introduce a new, moving form of sky brightness. For astronomers and astrophotographers, these trails can obscure faint celestial objects and require complex processing to remove. More broadly, they represent a shift in how humanity occupies even the most remote environments, extending our technological footprint into orbit. Preserving dark skies now depends not only on reducing artificial lighting on Earth, but also on responsible satellite design, regulation, and deployment to minimize their visual and scientific impact.

A group of fluffy emperor penguin chicks stands closely together on snow, surrounded by a few adult emperor penguins with black and yellow markings on their heads and necks. The background is bright and snowy. — *Creche* by David Sinclair | Emperor Penguin (*Aptenodytes forsteri*) chicks gather in creches for warmth and protection from predators while their parents return to sea to forage. The conservation status of Emperor Penguins was recently changed from Near Threatened to Endangered following a decrease in numbers. The chicks in their downy suits are not waterproof until they have completed their molt. Early sea-ice breakup due to warming has resulted in catastrophic losses of chicks. With increasing warming, IUCN modeling suggests Emperor Penguin numbers will halve by the 2080s. This image was taken on the very first visit by humans to the Lazarev colony on November 5, 2024.

Waves glowing with bright blue bioluminescence wash onto a dark beach at night, with a dim orange glow on the horizon and a silhouetted landscape in the background. — *Just Another Bioluminescent Tantrum…* by Deni Cupit | What did the water say to the sand at the beach? Nothing, it just waved. EXCEPT that time when the party was gatecrashed by a large bloom of *Noctiluca scintillans*: a single-celled dinoflagellate with the emotional stability of a glow stick. While this looks like an oceanic screensaver and delights humans the world over, these lazy microscopic organisms multiply in the millions to create a vast shimmering rave party along entire coastlines. Yes, they’re lazy and temperamental. Mechanical stimulation causes the luciferin–luciferase reaction you see here: meaning when they’re rudely bumped or agitated they scream in blue. All the while they refuse to make their own food, and instead outsource their own metabolism by recruiting symbiotic algae. Seen in blooms like this, the gelatinous blue specks have teamed up to destabilize the local ecosystem whilst spreading equal parts of wonder, drama, worry, joy, and trepidation. …Kinda like politics.

A small, orange-spotted fish camouflaged among red seaweed and coral underwater, with a snail shell nearby. — *My Home Is Being Eaten* by Francisco Albergoli | A red handfish (*Thymichthys politus*), one of Australia’s rarest endemic fishes, rests among algae being consumed by a short-spined sea urchin (*Heliocidaris erythrogramma*). Found only in a single coastal habitat in southern Tasmania, red handfish “walk” along the seafloor using modified pectoral fins rather than swimming. With fewer than 250 individuals remaining in the wild, the species is on the edge of extinction. Its primary threat is habitat degradation linked to localized overpopulation of short-spined urchins, which can overgraze algal communities. My research focuses on managing urchin populations and restoring this critical habitat. It also aims to fill key knowledge gaps in red handfish ecology, including their diet, which is unknown in the wild. Is the small invertebrate visible here as potential prey? And are these food resources also being lost as the ecosystem continues to degrade?

Large, flat, polygonal rock formations are interspersed with patches of white snow on the ground, with shrubs and low vegetation in the background under a purple-pink sky at sunset or sunrise. — *Dolerite Polygons* by Grant Dixon | Dolerite is an igneous rock that is unusually widespread in Tasmania and so significantly shapes the landscape. It has been described as ‘the rock that makes Tasmania’. During the breakup of Gondwana, dolerite magma intruded into the crust as subsurface dykes and sills (sheets). As the magma cooled and crystallized, regular vertical cracks propagated through the sills, forming polygonal columns. The characteristic form of many dolerite cliff-lines is due to this. Less common is such a clear exposure of a cross-section of these columns seen here, forming a glaciated pavement on the Ben Lomond plateau, their outline highlighted by a light fall of snow.

A tall, rocky sea stack rises from the ocean as waves crash against its base, with birds perched on top and a cloudy sky and distant mountains in the background. — *Eddystone Rock* by Jenny Schorta | Eddystone Rock is a tower-shaped rock rising about 50 m out of the water, and located in the Southern Ocean around 27km from SE Cape. The rock is an erosional remnant of the Tasmanian mainland. The rock is home to Australasian gannets, black-faced cormorants and fairy prions. It is also a hauling-out place for Australian and New Zealand fur seals. Alongside nearby Sidmouth Rock and Pedra Branca, Eddystone Rock has been designated an Important Bird Area for nesting shy albatrosses.

Green and yellow aurora lights illuminate the night sky above a calm sea, with steep rocky cliffs and a flat-topped island visible in the foreground. — *Tasman Island Aurora, Jan 2026* by Jessica Hewenn | The aurora australis is an ephemeral phenomenon: a wave of charged particles colliding with the earth’s atmosphere releases light that forms transient patterns in our skies. Beneath this all-too-brief display are the results of far slower processes. The Tasman Lighthouse has stood since 1906, on an island whose vegetation was altered over a few decades by introduced species. That vegetation had itself been initially shaped by strong winds and sea mists, and all of it in a landscape shaped on a geological scale: largely Jurassic Dolerite shaped by the Quaternary glacial and current interglacial erosion effects. Photography is able to capture these processes, from the transient to the ancient, as a single moment in time.

A close-up of an ichneumon wasp with long antennae and transparent wings standing on rough, textured bark. The wasp has a slender black and yellow body with a long ovipositor extending from its abdomen. — *Absolute Precision* by Keith Martin-Smith | Tasmania has more than 1000 species of native wasp. The life histories of the majority of these species, including their larval hosts, is unknown. This Darwin wasp, *Labena sp.*, uses her sensitive antennae to detect the movements of a beetle larva deep in its tunnel in a tree trunk. She then unsheathes her ovipositor and, using special grooves on her hind legs, maneuvers this thin tube expertly through the tunnels in the wood. Once her ovipositor makes contact with a beetle larva she will lay one or more eggs that will develop inside the larva. Although this might seem brutal or cruel, native wasps are vital in controlling insects that, unchecked, would devastate the native vegetation. And the precision involved in guiding a tube which is the same length as her entire body has to be admired!

A white moth with dark spots rests on a wet surface, its wings covered in water droplets, reflecting light and creating a shimmering effect. — *Death of Essence* by Lucy Marwood | It is hard to see still water in action; however, the untimely death of this Orange-rimmed Satin Moth (*Thalaina selenaea*; Queenstown, Tasmania) reminds us that surface tension is always present, but only tends to reveal itself when acting on a structure. Here, the hydrophobic wing scales undergo disaggregation (not dissolution), giving the wing edges a visually frayed quality as the pigmented scales separate and drift slowly away. Surface tension draws water into microscopic gaps beneath exposed edges of the overlapping scales, where cohesive forces create curvature-driven lifting effects. These forces physically lift and detach the weakly anchored scales from the clear membrane below, dispersing them into suspension. When repulsion meets cohesion, something has to give — and in this case, it is the wing scales. Water wins, again.

Three fluffy penguin chicks stand close together in the snow, with soft grey and white feathers and black-and-white faces, against a snowy, pale background. — *Endangered* by Madi McLatchie | In April 2026, the Emperor penguin was listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. As sentinels for climate change in Antarctica, the penguins reflect the serious impact humans are having on the environment. Due to the instability of sea ice during the later stages of the chick rearing period, it is becoming common that breeding grounds collapse before fledging time, which is when the chicks are mature enough to take to the seas. If the current trajectory for global warming continues, it is expected that the Emperor penguin population will be halved by the 2080s.

Cracked, dry earth with a large, irregular dark patch in the center and clusters of round, purple-gray growths scattered along the left side. The surface appears rough and textured, resembling dried lichen or fungus. — *Living With the Dead* by Mandy Cotman | Cemeteries. Places of grief, loss, mourning, neglect, abandonment. But if you look closely they are also places overflowing with life, as neglected headstones will, over time, develop a skin of slow-growing lichen. Lichens are a classic example of the biological process of symbiosis between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria. The algae produce nutrition via photosynthesis, and the fungus provides hydration and protection. Lichens may also contribute to pedogenesis, accelerating the headstone’s degeneration as it slowly crumbles to eventually become part of the soil. Photographing the headstones in the tiny cemetery at Marion Bay on Tasmania’s east coast gave rise to images of abstraction in which the viewer leaves behind the physical memorials and is drawn into the other-worldly minutiae of biological growth – to be awakened to the colors and textures of cemetery lichen, to wonder what they were seeing, and then to get lost in the detail.

Looking up at tall trees with dense canopies, the leaves form distinct gaps where their crowns don’t touch, creating a natural pattern against the bright sky. This phenomenon is known as "crown shyness. — *Shy* by Nathan Waterhouse | Crown shyness is the pattern of gaps that forms between neighboring tree crowns. One hypothesis is that these gaps result from mechanical abrasion: as adjacent branches collide in the wind it damages sensitive growing tips and limits further outward growth. Whatever the cause, the result is a canopy with channels of sky rather than a continuous layer of leaf cover. This photograph shows a Myrtle, *Nothofagus cunninghamii*, canopy.

A long-snouted fish with a yellow eye peeks through strands of green underwater vegetation in a dark aquatic environment. — *Pipe Dream* by Nicolas Horniblow | Pipefish share the family Syngnathidae with seahorses, sea dragons, and pipehorses, all possessing the same tubular jaws and limited swimming ability. Like their relatives, pipefish around the world have evolved sophisticated camouflage, mimicry, and commensal relationships that help them survive in complex habitats. This spotted pipefish (*Stigmatopora argus*), photographed in the shallow seagrass beds of Trial Bay, Tasmania, is one such master of disguise. It orients its slender body upward, aligning effectively with the vertical blades of seagrass it threads between. By matching posture, movement, and color, it becomes almost indistinguishable from the habitat it depends upon. Survival isn’t always about speed or strength. For some creatures, success lies in knowing exactly when — and how — to disappear.

Huge ocean waves crash dramatically against rugged, dark cliffs, sending white spray high into the air. The black and white image emphasizes the contrast and intensity of the natural scene. — *Southern Ocean Energy, Cape Pillar* by Nick Green | This photograph was taken from Tasman Island during a large Southern Ocean swell, looking back toward the cliffs below Cape Pillar on Tasmania’s southeast coast. The waves in this image have traveled thousands of kilometers across open ocean before meeting the near-vertical dolerite coastline. When that energy reaches the cliffs it has nowhere to go but upward, throwing seawater high into the air and creating the dense spray visible along the rock face. The small seabird near the center of the frame gives a sense of scale against the height of the cliffs and the force of the water moving through the scene. Events like this happen repeatedly during large swell conditions and slowly shape this coastline over time. This image captures a brief moment within that ongoing interaction between ocean energy and rock.

Three small blue mushrooms with thin white stems grow on a piece of brown wood, which is also dotted with tiny blue fungal spheres. The image is close-up and detailed, highlighting the texture and color contrast. — *Ephemeral Blue* by Ryan Shan | I came across these tiny bursts of blue hidden in the damp forest — *Mycena interrupta* growing quietly on decaying wood. As a saprotrophic fungus, it plays a vital role in breaking down organic matter and returning nutrients to the ecosystem. Small and fragile, they’re easy to overlook, yet their vivid color feels almost unreal. In moments like this, decay reveals itself not as an end, but as the beginning of new life.

A wide, rocky shoreline with waves splashing against the rocks under a pastel sky. A faint rainbow arcs above, with pink and orange clouds illuminated by the setting or rising sun. — *Bows and Blows* by Saskia Sparshott | A rainy afternoon over the Bicheno Blowhole resulted in a stunning burst of pinky orange, followed by a double rainbow. A rainbow is formed through a multi-step process. Firstly, refraction occurs when sunlight enters a raindrop and then bends as it slows down, separating the colors. The light then bounces off the back of the raindrop in the second phase, known as reflection. Lastly, as the light exits the raindrop, it bends again and displays a brilliant array of color. Just to add to this process, occasionally the sunlight reflects twice while inside the raindrop, and this results in a brilliant double rainbow. Accompanied by a reverse sunset (as the higher clouds reflected the sun’s brilliant colors), and the power of the waves thrusting the water plumes high into the air, this stunning mesh of scientific phenomena blended seamlessly to create this image.

There are many other fantastic photos in the running for the grand prize.

“These images invite people to stop and look more closely at the world around them,” says Festival Founder and Creative Director, Dr. Margo Adler.

“They capture everything from microscopic ecosystems and evolutionary adaptation to climate change and conservation, often revealing scientific stories most of us would never see otherwise.

“Photography has this incredible ability to turn complex ideas into something immediate and emotional. A single image can spark curiosity, wonder and conversation in a way few other mediums can.”

Other finalists include photos of parasitic wasps, satellites polluting the night sky, ancient “ghost sharks,” and evidence of how platypuses adapt for widely varied temperatures. The photos truly run the gamut, but what they all have in common is that they are high-quality, powerful photos.

Judges will select the top photo from the group of finalists, and there will also be a People’s Choice winner crowned.

The public is now tasked with narrowing down the group of finalists to just 12, which will be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery during the Beaker Street Festival from August 6-17. Voting is open now. As of the time of publication, voting is not yet available. However, it will be shortly.

The Science Photography Prize is but one of the festival’s highlights, which celebrates the intersection of science and art.

Image credits: Beaker Street Festival, Beaker Street Science Photography Prize. Individual photographers are credited in the image captions.

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