And a Moon image
Malcolm, you do have a case about the nacreous/iridescent cloud shot (I'd agree it's not terribly astronomical, even if nacreous clouds are high and cool), but I'd argue that other good nightscape/Milky Way images are almost all about the composition with interesting foreground/setting. That's a huge part of a really good nightscape. Having chatted to the judges a bit last year, they care a lot about the visual story and artistic composition, and less about the technical expertise of a shot (which is why last year mine got up over Damian Peach's more technically brilliant entry). The judges are a motley crue of astro professionals, but also artists, media, a comedian among others, so they will have some unusual choices in there. Clearly, if you can combine artisticness, a story and top technical expertise, then you have a good shout! I think with deep sky it's harder to have a distinct story, so then it's more about the framing and imaging/processing craft to create a gorgeous image (of which several here do very well of course!)
Well done everyone though, pretty significant Aus representation!