In July 2015, the Central West Astronomical Society's astrophotography competition was held again as part of the CWAS AstroFest. Amateur astronomers and photographers from around Australia were invited to take part in the exhibition and to submit their astrophotographs for consideration in the prestigious "David Malin Awards". This year's competition had eight categories: Deep Sky Wide-Field Nightscapes Solar System Animated Sequences: Scientific Aesthetic Themed Section - "The Southern Cross" Junior (18 years old and younger) The photographs were judged by world-renowned astrophotographer, Dr David Malin, without David being aware of the identity of the photographers. The winners were presented with the "David Malin Awards" in the presence of invited dignitaries, during the CWAS AstroFest conference dinner on 18 July 2015. The dignitaries included Prof. Brian Schmidt, the 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics, Dr Everett Gibson of NASA/JSC, Babak Tafreshi of "The World at Night, The Parkes Mayor, Cr Ken Keith, and Kate Guaran of Canon Australia. It was not just technical skill that was awarded. The prizes went to pictures that captured the beauty of the sky and the intrinsic interest of astronomy in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Canon Australia supported the competition with prizes to the value of over $15,400. Mr Anthony Moran, the News Corp. Photographic Manager, judged the "Photo Editor's Choice" awards and gave his pick from each category. His overall winner was awarded the Photo Editor's Choice Award. Last year's exhibitions were a resounding success. The two parallel exhibitions were viewed by over 180,000 people Australia-wide. This year's permanent exhibition will be on show at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory's Visitor's Centre for one year from 19 July 2015. A second touring exhibition, organised by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, will travel to selected venues, beginning with Sydney Observatory on 14 August 2015. To have received any one of these awards is a great honour. Congratulations!

The Competition - Category Winners

© Troy Casswell

Winner: Troy Casswell Wide-Field OVERALL WINNER "Stellar Riches" Citation: "This is a stunning rendition of the brightest part of the Milky Way. It reveals vast star clouds of Sagittarius, and the wispy dust and elusive nebulae and bright stars in Scorpius and Ophiuchus. It is a four-panel, 20-degree wide, true-colour mosaic made from 64 separate exposures with an off-the-shelf (but modified) digital camera, and much care and patience. Riches indeed!"

© Andrew Campbell

Winner: Andrew Campbell Deep Sky "The Fighting Dragons of Ara" Citation: "The swirling, fragmented clouds of gas and dust in the Milky Way are always challenging to photograph, and this intriguing image captures its torn and fragmented structure beautifully, turning molecular clouds into a work of art."

© James Garkick

Winner: James Garlick Nightscapes "Aurora Treescape" Citation: "This vista would have been quite eye-catching by daylight, but a trace of moonlight, the scattered pin-pricks of stars and the vivid colours of the Aurorae Australis in the sky turn it into a haunting and memorable scene."

© Peter Ward

Winner: Peter Ward Solar System "Solar Crown" Citation: "This high resolution image of the Sun's surface is a superb example of a specialised branch of amateur astrophotography that can reveal details on the Sun's surface professionals only dreamed of 20 years ago, especially over its full disk and with prominences around the limb. Marvellous!"

© Phil Hart

Winner: Phil Hart Theme - "The Southern Cross" "South along Bucklands Lane" Citation: "A crescent moon illuminates the foreground and high cloud accentuates the colours of the bright stars in the Southern Cross. A beautifully composed night-time landscape with excellent star colours and clear definition of the Magellanic Clouds, the nearest galaxies."

© Matthew Cherubino

Winner: Matthew Cherubino Junior "Stairway to Heaven" Citation: "This striking composition and a well-judged exposure for the Milky Way would have stood out in any competition. To include a figure of a friend on one of the peaks is the icing on the cake. Good work!"

© Phil Hart

Winner: Phil Hart Animated Sequences - Scientific "Four Nights of Comet Lovejoy's Tail" Citation: "Photographing comets is challenging, especially revealing the subtle detail in their evolving tails, buffeted by the solar wind. This series of time-lapse movies taken over for nights achieves this very well indeed and with elegance."

© Alex Cherney

Winner: Alex Cherney Animated Sequences - Aesthetic "Turn" Citation: "Making interesting movies of essentially static or slow moving objects offers many technical and aesthetic challenges. Doing it as well as it is done in this production requires special skills - and much patience. This is an engaging and artfully constructed compilation of footage obtained at two observatories on almost exactly opposite sides of the world."

The News Corp. Photo Editor's Choice

© James Garlick

Winner: James Garlick Photo Editor's Choice - Judged by Anthony Moran "Aurora Treescape" Citation: "What a magnificent image of the aurora australis. The silhouetted foreground gives the image wonderful depth before the viewer is drawn to the striking colours of the night sky, purely a captivating image."

The Competition - Honorable Mentions

© Steven Mohr	© Peter Ward
"The Mighty Cosmic Web" Steven Mohr	"Knight's Colours" Peter Ward Photo Editor's Pick

© Kevin Diletti	© Arwen Dyer
"Star Storm around the Teapot" Kevin Diletti	"Luna Eclipse" Arwen Dyer Photo Editor's Pick

© Steven Saffi	© Stefan Buda
"Milky Way over the Bungle Bungles" Steven Saffi	"Southbank Eclipse" Stefan Buda

© Saeed Salimpour	© Mark Slater	© Peter Patonai
"By the Lake" Saeed Salimpour	"Southern Cross Burning" Mark Slater	"Vivid Festival Southern Cross" Peter Patonai Photo Editor's Pick

Junior

© Scott Carnie-Bronca	© Scott Carnie-Bronca
"Tarantula Nebula" Scott Carnie-Bronca	"Around the Southern Cross" Scott Carnie-Bronca Photo Editor's Pick

Animated Sequences: Scientific

© Alex Cherney	© Andrew Cool
"Dynamic Tail of Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy" Alex Cherney	"Airglow Waves at Solar Maximum" Andrew Cool

© Greg Priestley	© Judith Conning
"Riverina Skies" Greg Priestley	"Aurora Borealis" Judith Conning