2026 Inside Athletics Photo Competition

The Inside Athletics Photo Competition is back for its sixth edition, and it’s the biggest one yet. This year there are three categories, more than $1000 in prizes, and a new voting system designed to give every photo a fair go.

If you’ve been behind a camera at athletics over the past 12 months, we want to see your best work. That means the track, the field, and everywhere runners go beyond the track: roads, cross country courses, trails and mountains.

Athletics in this country is photographed brilliantly, often by people doing it for the love of the sport. This competition is our way of celebrating that work. Before you dig through your own catalogue, take a look back at the winners from the first five editions.

Inside Athletics Photo Competition

The categories

This year we’re adding a third category, so running off the track gets the spotlight it deserves.

Best Track Photo: Anything on the track: sprints, hurdles, relays, middle distance, distance, steeplechase, track walks and para events.

Best Field Photo: The jumps and the throws: high jump, pole vault, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin.

Best Running Photo: Running anywhere that isn’t an athletics track, including road races, cross country, trail, mountain running and parkrun. If the photo was taken on a track, it belongs in Best Track Photo.

The prizes

There’s $1050 in prize money up for grabs. In each of the three categories, the winner receives $250 and the runner-up receives $100.

What you can enter

The competition is open to anyone who photographs athletics, from professionals to parents with a phone in the stands. Two rules apply to every entry.

It must be your photo. Entries must be taken by the person entering them.
It must be from the past season. Photos must have been taken between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.

You can enter one photo in each category.

A new way to vote

The winners will again be decided by popular vote, but the way you vote has changed. Instead of picking one favourite from a long list, you’ll choose between photos two at a time.

You’ll be shown two photos from the same category, side by side.
Pick the one you like better.
A new pair appears. Keep going for as long as you like, because every pick counts.

Each choice is a head-to-head result. Combine thousands of them from voters right across the athletics community, and you get a ranking of every photo in the category. The photos that win their matchups most consistently, against the widest range of other photos, finish on top.

We’ve made the change because traditional polls have a habit of rewarding whoever can rally the biggest crowd, rather than the best photo. With head-to-head voting, every photo gets its turn in front of voters, not just the ones shared most widely. Asking your friends to vote for your shot won’t do much either, because they’ll be shown random pairs like everyone else. The best way to win is to enter a great photo.

How to enter

Submit your photos through the entry forms below.

Entries close: 8pm AEDT Sunday 8 November
Voting opens: 9am AEDT Monday 9 November
Voting closes: 10pm AEDT Saturday 14 November
Winners announced: 9am AEDT Sunday 15 November

So go back through the season: the national championships, the cold cross country mornings, the club meet where everything lined up. Find the shot you’re proudest of, and get it in.