Four Seasons of the Invisible

Participate in the Four Seasons of the Invisible, Euro-BioImaging’s imaging contest! Join us to celebrate the four seasons seen through the prism of imaging devices: electron micrographs of flu virus or changes in chloroplast structure in decaying leaves for autumn, ice crystal images or brown fat depletion during hibernation for winter, microscopic pollen tubes or CT images of lungs affected by hay fever for spring, and plankton blooms or heat shock proteins for summer, and much more!  Only your imagination is the limit.

Who can participate? 

This imaging contest is open to all members of the Euro-BioImaging Community and individuals involved in scientific imaging and research fields around the world. The contest has four quarterly sessions, each corresponding to a season. The dates for each session are indicated below.

Register, fill the form and upload your entries! 

You can submit as many entries as you want per season. All scientific imaging techniques and research fields are welcome. The provided content can be videos or still images, recent or older. To qualify for the contest, submitted images must be captured using an optical microscope or a more advanced imaging device. Macrophotography is not allowed. Images can be still or moving and must follow the technical requirements below.

What can you win? 

At the end of each seasonal session, a panel chooses a quarterly winner and a runner-up. Quarterly winners get their travel expenses reimbursed for the next science conference or event they attend up to the limit of 1000€ (upon presentation of expense receipts). Quarterly runner-ups get their travel expenses reimbursed for the next science conference or event they attend up to the limit of 500€ (upon presentation of expense receipts). The selected images will be published on the Euro-BioImaging website and on the organization’s social media channels. 

Image requirements

Each entry must include:

• A descriptive title.
• A narrative explanation of how the image aligns with the seasonal theme.
• Technical details regarding the imaging technology utilised.
• The entrant’s title, first name, and last name.
• Affiliation details (e.g., research institution, Euro-BioImaging Node).
• Acknowledgements, if applicable (e.g., funding sources, collaborators).

All submitted images must follow the following technical specifications:

• Still images: Resolution not exceeding 1500 pixels in width; JPEG format.
• Videos: Resolution not exceeding 720 pixels in width; MP4 format.

Contest timeline for 2025-2026

Spring Session: 31 March – 20 June
Summer Session: 21 June – 21 September
Autumn Session: 22 September – 20 December
Winter Session: 21 December – 20 March

Detailed rules can be found here.