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Enter your amazing science images in the 2018 Cool Science Image Contest

February 1, 2018 By Chris Barncard
Photo: Microscopic closeup of tick's head

Extreme closeup of a tick that attached itself to the leg of Department of Botany staffer Sarah Swanson on a camping trip. She parlayed her pain into a prize in the 2016 Cool Science Image Contest. Photo: Sarah Swanson

Science is a visual enterprise. Scientific imagery created with microscopes, telescopes, cameras and scanners makes even parts of the world that our eyes can’t perceive visible, understandable and often beautiful.

To recognize the visual and exploratory value of scientific imagery, the 8th annual Cool Science Image Contest is soliciting the best images from members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison community.

Sponsored by Promega Corp. with additional support from the UW–Madison Arts Institute and DoIT Digital Publishing and Printing Services, the Cool Science Image Contest offers an opportunity to show off compelling science images made by students, staff or faculty.

See the 2017 winners

More than 130 images and videos — depicting animals, insects, plants, cells, stars, weather and nanoscale compounds — were entered in last year’s contest. Submissions are featured on university websites and other communications, and in exhibits on and off campus. Ten winning images and two winning videos are also showcased in a fall exhibit at the Mandelbaum and Albert Family Vision Gallery of the McPherson Eye Research Institute, and at Promega’s Fitchburg headquarters.

To enter your cool science images or videos, visit the contest webpage for guidelines, submission requirements and a link to the entry form. The submission deadline is March 9.

Winners, chosen by judges with experience in scientific imagery and visual art, will be announced in April. Each winning entry receives a $100 Downtown Madison gift card and a poster-size print of the submission. All qualified entries will be displayed in a slide show at the 2018 Wisconsin Science Festival and during the exhibit at the McPherson Eye Research Institute.