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Enter your best science images in the 2019 Cool Science Image Contest

January 31, 2019 By Chris Barncard

Science relies on data, and some of the most striking data produced at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is visual.

Students, staff and faculty on campus employ microscopes, telescopes, cameras and scanners to make the world — even the parts our eyes can’t perceive — visible, understandable and often beautiful.

To recognize the visual and exploratory value of scientific imagery, the 9th annual Cool Science Image Contest is soliciting the best images from members of the UW–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.

More than 170 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 15.

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 2019 Wisconsin Science Festival and during the exhibit at the McPherson Eye Research Institute.

See the 2018 winners.