Its predecessor, the BMC Ecology Image competition, ran for a successful seven years, attracting substantial attention from ecologists and the wider public. Past winning images have featured in international media outlets such as The Guardian, IFL Science, Scientific American and the BBC.

The image competition provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase research and the beauty of nature to a broad audience. Anyone affiliated with a research institution is eligible to enter up to one image to each of the following four categories:

1. Research in action. Images that showcase ecological or environmental biology research or capture experiences of conducting studies and collecting data.
2. Relationships in nature. Photos depicting symbiosis, including parasitism, plant-fungi relationships, plant-pollinator interactions, mimicry, mutualism, commensalism, cleaning symbiosis, and co-evolutionary relationships.
3. Biodiversity under threat. Photos depicting threats or efforts to conserve biodiversity.
4. Life close up. Photos displaying biology that is not often seen using close-up or macro photography.

Judging and prizes

Judging the competition will be members of the BMC Ecology and Evolution editorial board, along with Jenny Harman, the Editor of the journal. The journal will award the overall winner €800, and the winner for each of the four categories will receive €200. The journal will also award €50 to the runner up for each category.

How to submit your images and the stories behind them:

Please email your images to the Editor, Jenny Harman, at jennifer.harman@springernature.com with the subject line “BMC Ecology and Evolution Image Competition” and include the following :

1. Your name:
2. Affiliation:
3. Contact details of Research Institute:
4. Twitter handle (optional):
5. Category:
6. Image name:
7. Description (Max. 250 words):
8. File type:
9. Data attribution (if applicable):
10. I agree to release this image under a Creative Commons License: Y/N

Please attach your image entry to your email. All images must conform to the following criteria:

• A minimum 300dpi (1831 x 1831 pixels for a raster image).
• In one of the acceptable formats – EPS, PDF (for line drawings), PNG, TIFF, JPEG, BMP, DOC, PPT [Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere.]

In line with our policies on open access, entry to the competition implies releasing the images under a creative commons license to allow file sharing with proper attribution.

Submit your images now!

We’ll be posting regular updates on the competition in the coming months, so don’t forget to keep up to date by reading our blog or by following us on Twitter @BMC_series

The closing date for entries is the 1st July 2022, with winners announced in August 2022.

Good luck!