CPRE Sussex Children’s Night Vision Photographic Competition 2021 Results 

Congratulations to our three winning entries in the CPRE Sussex Night Vision children’s photographic competition 2021.   

Our amazing judge, Steve Geliot, says: 

‘First Place goes to Patrick Barry (Age 8)  – a lovely clear picture of Orion, but what is so great about this one is that you see the stars in context, shining above our human habitation. It looks like it might be a school in Patrick’s image. This is really great because it makes the link between where we live and the objects which sent out a load of photons in our direction 1344 years ago from the Orion Nebula. How cool is that!’

‘In second place, Lexi Waddington-Killner (Age 9)  – you can clearly see that this is Orion but you can also just see some of the violet colour emanating from the Orion Nebula.  Well done Lexi.’’

‘In third place, Harry Pateman (Age 9) – both photo 1 and photo 2 showed several stars shining away and you could see that they have different colours – not just white dots.  Well done Harry.’’

All winners receive a prize of £35 to spend at The Herstmonceux Science Observatory Centre.  We wish Patrick, Lexi and Harry many more adventures photographing Sussex’s rare dark skies. 

Thanks to everyone who took part. 

The competition was held during the annual CPRE Star Count, which this year coincided with lockdown. Participants were asked to count the number of stars they could see in the constellation of Orion to assess levels of light pollution. The results showed that 14% of those taking part had good quality dark skies, enabling them to see more than 20 stars in Orion. This compares to just 10% last year. 

There was also an improvement in Sussex’s most light polluted areas with a drop in number of people who could see less than 10 stars. Last year 53% of participants were struggling to see the stars but during the February Lockdown, this dropped to 48% which is an improvement of 5%. 

CPRE has published an interactive map showing Lockdown Star Count results across the country:  

www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/nature-and-landscapes/dark-skies/star-count-2021/ 

Dark skies give us an impressive view of the galaxy and they are also important for wildlife and human sleep. They are one visible sign of wasted energy at a time of climate and ecological emergency.