Young Railway Photographer of the Year: Hunt is on for young photographers capturing rail heritage

Across the UK, cases will be packed, lenses primed, and shutters poised as the Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition 2025 officially opens for entries.

Organised by the National Railway Museum in York, The Railway Photographic Society and supported by leading partners from the railway and photography industries, the competition is seeking the best images from photographers aged 25 and under.

Running until January 31 2025, the competition returns as part of ‘Railway 200’, a year-long programme of events and celebrations to recognise the significance of the past 200 years of railway history and the bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway in September 2025.

Entrants will be invited to submit a portfolio of up to six images in two age categories: 18 and under and 19 to 25.

An exhibition of shortlisted entries will be displayed at the National Railway Museum in York and at Locomotion in Shildon in summer 2025, before the winners are announced.

The inaugural Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition was launched in 2019 and winners announced in 2022 to celebrate the centenary of the Railway Photographic Society.

Charlotte Kingston, Head of Design, Exhibitions and Communications at the National Railway Museum and inaugural competition judge, said: “I am pleased to announce the return of the Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition which has a new theme as part of the nation’s Railway 200 celebrations.

“This was one of the National Railway Museum’s most popular recent exhibitions and the skill, breadth of subject matter and imagination on show from previous entrants was fantastic."

Despite the disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic, the inaugural Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition received 167 entrants who submitted more than 900 images. The youngest entrant was just eight.

The overall competition-winning image was taken by Bradley Langton, then 20, from Driffield who impressed the judges with a spectacular reflected view of an LNER InterCity 225 at London King’s Cross station.

Secretary of the Railway Photographic Society, John Hillier, said: “The return of the Young Railway Photographer of the Year competition and the NRM’s involvement provides the perfect opportunity for young photographers to be inspired to go out and produce a portfolio of shots based on the new theme.”

Visit: www.youngrailphotographeroftheyear.co.uk.