The Royal Society of Biology held its Annual Awards last night to announce the winners of the Society’s Photography Competition, Nancy Rothwell Award and Outreach and Engagement Awards, and to present the President’s Medal.

The event, taking place at the Francis Crick Institute, London, saw attendees including members of the biosciences community and those who had submitted entries into our awards, and featured a gallery of the shortlisted entries for the competitions. 

Guests viewing some of the shortlisted Photographer Competition entries

The evening also saw the launch of the showcase trailer for a documentary being produced through an RSB partnership with ITN Productions, “Addressing Global Challenges.”

The programme highlights the importance and relevance of work in the biosciences, and showcases some of the transformative work of a number of bioscience organisations taking part in the production.

Judges of the Nancy Rothwell Award, Andrew Crook MBE FRSA from the Royal Veterinary College and Timothy Pond of the Zoological Society of London presented this year's winners with their awards for their outstanding artwork capturing the anatomy of plants and animals.

Guests viewing some of the winning Nancy Rothwell award submissions in the Manby gallery in the Francis Crick Institute

The award had three age categories, with James Boughey of Prestfelde School winning the 7-11 category, Charlotte Weeks of Preston School, Yeovil winning the 12-14 category and Leslie Lee of Wimbledon High School winning the 15-18 category.

Andrew Crook said Leslie’s winning entry was “attractive and informative” and that it was a “perfect” entry. Timothy Pond said the entry was “simply stunning.”

Linda Pitkin, author and underwater photographer also announced the winners of the RSB Photography Competition. The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Patterns in Nature’, which saw over 900 entrants submit more than 2000 photographs from around the world.

Jack's leopard gecko on display in the Manby gallery in the Francis Crick Institute

The Young Photographer of the Year award was won by Jack Olive aged 17 for his photograph ‘Leopard Gecko’, winning £500. The Photographer of the Year award was won by Roberto Bueno for his ‘Trails of Life’ photograph taken in Yukon, Canada, for which he won £1000.

Tim Harris of Nature Library and Bluegreen Pictures said of the entries: “We were hugely impressed by the strength in depth of entries to the competition this year, in both categories.

“It was great to see the imaginative ways in which the brief was interpreted, and particularly a strong contingent of macro- and micro-photography. The winning and shortlisted images have opened our eyes to many hidden patterns in nature.”

Dr Samantha Terry, lecturer at King’s College London, winner of the Established Researcher Award

The evening also featured presentations from the winners of this year’s Outreach and Engagement award. Rosie Waldron, engagement manager at the Francis Crick Institute and member of the judging panel introduced the winners, saying: “This year we received an extremely high calibre of entries and it was a tough decision to pick the winners.”

Kirsty McIntyre, PhD student at The University of Manchester was awarded the New Researcher Outreach and Engagement award for her contribution to public involvement and engagement advancements at the University, and for her efforts in increasing the breadth and diversity of the audiences she reaches.

Kirsty said of receiving the award: “Finding new ways to engage members of the public with research has become my passion and so I am delighted to have my work recognised by this award.”

The Established Researcher Award was won by Dr Samantha Terry, lecturer at King’s College London, in recognition of her leadership in the field of public engagement and the wealth of outreach activities she has developed and delivered.

On receiving the award, Samantha said: “Winning this award has been made possible by not only a dedicated and supportive public engagement team here at the Wellcome Trust/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering at King’s College London, but also by the encouraging stance of my mentor and head of department, Professor Philip Blower.

“By this recognition of our joint effort in enhancing the public engagement culture within the centre and department, we hope to inspire and facilitate future activities by academics and students alike as well as aid recognition and create an incentive to carry out public engagement within King’s.”

Networking at the Francis Crick Institute, London

President of the Royal Society of Biology Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow presented the President’s Medal award to Dr John Grainger CBiol FRSB, in recognition of his tireless dedication and contributions to the field of biology and biology education, such as his lectureship at the University of Reading and his founding of the National Centre for Biotechnology in Education.

He was also thanked for his commitment to the RSB, which includes 35 years volunteering on the Thames Valley branch committee.

Guests of the awards ceremony were welcome to network and view entries for the Photography Competition and for the Nancy Rothwell award, which were exhibited in the Manby gallery in the Francis Crick Institute, alongside screenings of the Addressing Global Challenges showcase trailer.

The RSB would like to thank the Taylor Bloxham Group and Triad for their support of this event.