The Inspiring Winners of the 41st AOP Student Photography Awards

Jul 17, 2026

A white bird with a long yellow beak, a dirty miner in work gear, and a hand reaching out of a manhole on a city street.

The Association of Photographers (AOP) has announced the winners of its annual Student Awards.

The annual competition celebrates the best photographic works created by students across 21 different photography courses in the United Kingdom, ranging from Higher National Diploma (HND) to Master’s programs.

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 In this year’s contest, the 41st edition of the AOP’s Student Awards, photographers competed in three categories: People, Places, and Things. In each category, there are Gold and Silver winners, plus one overall winner.

Best in Show

The Best in Show winner this year is Rupert Allen, a BA student in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the University of Gloucestershire, for his series, Church of Coal.

A miner wearing a headlamp and dirty work clothes stands outdoors, his face and jacket smeared with dirt. The background shows blurred vegetation and hills, suggesting a rugged, outdoor environment. — From the series *Church of Coal* by Rupert Allen — Best in Show | The AOP Student Awards

An older man with a serious expression leans against a rough, graffiti-marked wall in a dimly lit, abandoned building, with some ivy growing nearby. The image is in black and white. — From the series *Church of Coal* by Rupert Allen — Best in Show | The AOP Student Awards

“All three judges were really taken with the narrative maturity and sensitivity of this series,” competition judge Eleanor Harrison says of Allen’s Best of Show-winning series. “It was a glorious use of black and white imagery for true visual storytelling.”

For his award-winning documentary project, Allen utilized large-format cameras to capture portraits of coal miners, both active and retired, at the last working drift colliery in Western Europe, located in South Wales.

For his victory, Allen receives a Fujifilm prize kit worth £2,500, plus an annual subscription to Capture One Studio.

“Fujifilm is delighted to support the next generation of photographers through AOP’s Student Awards in 2026,” says Lauren Drage, Marketing Manager, Fujifilm Electronic Imaging. “We believe in nurturing creativity and innovation in the field of photography and imaging, and look forward to seeing the incredible talent that emerges from this competition.”

“In collaboration with the National Union of Miners (NUM) in Pontypridd, and the National Museum Wales, this project has taken me across South Wales, in search of answers to my question: What happened to the miners; what happened to the collieries; and how have they adapted in the 21st century.