2025 BMC Ecology and Evolution & BMC Zoology Image Competition
The annual image competition hosted by BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology never fails to captivate researchers and the public! Each year, we are delighted to receive a spectacular collection of images from researchers worldwide that celebrate the power of scientific storytelling through imagery. Our past winners have been featured by CNN, Live Science, BBC Science Focus, Popular Science, Newsweek, Gizmodo, El País, MailOnline, and National Geographic España, reaching a global audience.
Don’t miss your chance to showcase your research, win prizes and see your work featured in an editorial published by BMC Ecology and Evolution. Find out more about last year's winners here: 2024 joint BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition: the winning images | BMC Ecology and Evolution | Full Text
Competition Categories
Anyone affiliated with a research institution and working in ecology, evolutionary biology, palaeontology, or zoology is eligible to submit one image per category:
1. Research in action. Images that showcase ecological, evolutionary biology or zoological research or capture experiences conducting studies and collecting data.
2. Colourful strategies. From dazzling displays to cunning camouflage, show how animals and plants use colour to survive - whether to attract mates, evade predators, catch prey or communicate.
3. Life in motion. Images that capture movement in nature, from the sprint of a cheetah to the silent glide of an owl, as well as fossil evidence of how long-extinct species moved. Images that capture animal locomotion and biomechanics.
4. Collective and social behaviour. Images that show how animals work together, communicate, and make decisions. Examples include fish schools, bird flocks, insect swarms, and other group dynamics in nature.
Judging and prizes
Judging the competition will be members of the BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology Senior Editorial Board, along with the Editor, Jennifer Harman. The journals will award the overall winner €800 and the winner for each of the four categories €200. The journal will also award €50 to the runner-up for each category.
How to submit
Please email your images to Jennifer Harman at jennifer.harman@springernature.com with the subject line “Image Competition 2025” and include the following:
- Your name:
- Affiliation:
- Contact details of your Research Institute:
- Twitter handle (optional):
- Category:
- Image name:
- Description (Max. 250 words):
- File type:
- Data attribution (if applicable):
- I agree to release this image under a Creative Commons License: Y/N
Please attach your image entry to your email.
Rules:
- Anyone affiliated with a research institution and working within the fields of ecology, evolutionary biology, paleoecology, or zoology is eligible to enter.
- Resolution Requirement: Images must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (1831 x 1831 pixels for a raster image) and a maximum file size of 10 MB.
- File Format: Images must be saved in TIFF, JPEG, or RAW file formats.
- Ownership Rights: The image submitted must be your own, and you must possess the necessary rights to use it.
- Exclusion of AI-Generated Images: Images generated using artificial intelligence (AI) will not be considered for the competition.
- Creative Commons Licensing: By entering the competition, you agree to release the images under a Creative Commons license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) in alignment with our open-access policies. This agreement allows for file sharing with proper attribution.
- Judging: BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology Editors and Senior Editorial Board Members will judge the submissions. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide feedback to every applicant.
The entry deadline is June the 20th, 2025, with the winners being announced on August the 15th.
Follow the Topic
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BMC Ecology and Evolution
An open access, peer-reviewed journal interested in all aspects of ecological and evolutionary biology.
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BMC Zoology
This is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on zoology, including comparative physiology, mechanistic and functional studies, morphology, life history, animal behavior, signaling and communication, cognition, parasitism, systematics, biogeography and conservation.
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