A rare ringed rainbow wins first place in the Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year 2025
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The Royal Meteorological Society has announced the winners of this year’s Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year Competition, celebrating ten years of the competition.
Chosen from over 4,000 images received from both amateur and professional photographers from 84 countries, the judges’ winners were chosen by an international panel of experts from the fields of weather and climate, photography and journalism – including members of the ITV Weather team.
The prestigious title of Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year 2025 has been awarded to Geshuang Chen and Shuchang Dong, with ‘The Gorgeous Ring’. Engineer and astronomy photographer Geshuang Chen, from China, said: ‘It was drizzling on Lugu Lake in China’s Yunnan Province. I flew my drone to a height of 500 metres, passed through the rain curtain, with my lens facing away from the sun, and captured a complete circular rainbow, which was a ring given by the sun to the lake.’
The judges found this image particularly special: not just a rare view of a complete rainbow, but a moment of perfect alignment, with the small island framed precisely at its centre. Geshuang Chen and Shuchang Dong win a £5,000 cash prize.
The Main Category runner up was Jadwiga Piasecka from the UK, with Eunice III, an image from a sheltered place out of reach of the storm in Newhaven, on the south coast of the UK, where winds were gusting at over 80 miles per hour.
‘From my vantage point, I watched enormous waves battling against the sea wall, sending dramatic sprays of water high into the air…highlighting just how immense the storm’s fury truly was,’ Piasecka said.
The Main Category third place went to Lukáš Gallo, from Czech Republic, with Sky Surfing, a perfectly timed shot of rare ‘wave’, or fluctus, clouds are formed when there’s a sharp difference in wind speed or direction between two layers of air, similar to the way wind can whip up waves on the surface of the sea.
The result is a spectacular series of cloud curls that look like breaking ocean waves, as well as a clear visual warning of turbulence.
The Standard Chartered Mobile Weather Photographer of the Year was Kyaw Zay Yar Lin from Myanmar, with the photograph Fishing in the Raining Season. This photo captures the urgent feeling of being caught in a sudden downpour.
The Standard Chartered Young Weather Photographer of the Year title goes to Alex Cruz, from the US, with Eruption of the Sky. Captured from a passenger plane flying between Washington DC, and Orlando, Florida this photo reveals a spectacular view of a thunderstorm cloud glowing pink against a deepening blue sky.
The winner of the Standard Chartered Climate Category was West Texas Special by Jonah Lange, from the US. Climate change is amplifying extremes, turning open landscapes into arenas for even more volatile and destructive weather. Drought conditions in West Texas are becoming more frequent and severe, drying out the soil and increasing the availability of loose dust.
