“There is grandeur in this view of life”*. Let’s see it.

After the success of last year’s competition, BMC Ecology once again wants to see—and share—your images of the natural world. The “BMC Ecology Image Competition 2014” is open to everyone affiliated with a research institution, from Undergraduates to Emeritus Professors. Whether your research is based in the field, the lab, or a computer, we want to see how you see the science of ecology.

Entries should depict a specific ecological interaction, and be submitted to one of five categories that reflect the breadth of the field.

To be in with a chance to have your images featured in the journal, across BioMed Central’s social media accounts, and possibly international media such as Scientific American, New Scientist, BBC and The Guardian, be sure to send in your entries!

We will consider all images from photos to data visualizations, or a mixture of both – as long as they are striking, meaningful, and creative. The winner of each category will be chosen by each of the journal’s academic Section Editors. The categories are:

• Behavioral and physiological ecology

• Conservation ecology and biodiversity research

• Community, population, and macroecology

• Landscape ecology and ecosystems

• Theoretical ecology and models

The overall winner will receive a cash prize of £250 (€300/$400) and their image will be used as the journal’s main promotional image – featuring prominently on the journal ‘s website and in its printed and online marketing material. The runner-up will receive £100 (€125/$150), and additional prizes of £50 (€65/$75) will be awarded for those images selected by the Section Editors that best represent their section.

Please ensure that you provide a description of the ecological processes depicted in your image, as well as the category you feel that it best embodies. Entries are limited to 10 per person, and please also ensure that you correctly cite any data sources that were used to generate your image.

To enter, email your images to BMC Ecology at bmcecol@biomedcentral.com with the subject line “BMC Ecology Image Competition 2014”, together with the following completed form:

Name:
Section:
Image
Description (Max. 300 words):
File type:
Data attribution (if applicable):
Affiliation:
Contact details of Research Institute:
I agree to release this image under a Creative Commons License:  Y/N
Twitter handle (optional):

Please attach your image entry to your email, and make sure it conforms to the following criteria:

• A minimum 300dpi (1831 x 1831 pixels for a raster image).
• In one of the allowable 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 release of the images under a creative commons licence, to allow file sharing with proper attribution. We’d love to be able to share your images with everyone throughout the competition, so entrants are also free to upload their entries onto our dedicated Flickr page “Imaging Ecology”, where you can view other images and post your comments.

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

Closing date for entries is 31st May 2014 and winners will be announced shortly afterwards.

Good luck!

*Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (but you knew that already, didn’t you?)