Dan Welch (Chair, West Midlands Regional Group) describes the 3rd Annual Geological Photographic Competition.
Geoscientists understand the value of diagrams, conceptual models and photographs to describe complex environments to each other and to the public. Visual evidence remains a key part of fieldwork – from the most basic ground investigation to cutting edge research, particularly for in-situ features that cannot be taken away for later study.
With this in mind, the competition was first launched in 2013 by the West Midlands Regional Group for West Midlands-based Fellows and Black Country Geological Society members only. Images by Peter Twigg, John Schroder and Jon Amos took awards.
In January 2014 the competition was thrown open to include any local geologists, amateur or professional, working or retired in not just the West Midlands and Black Country Region but in the Southern Wales Region too. Provided you lived in either, you could enter. The theme: ‘What Lies Beneath our Feet’.
Nearly one hundred entries were received, representing famous geological locations from Nambia to Iceland and Bude to Torquay. Judges (Jon Clatworthy (Lapworth Museum), Bill Gaskarth (Geological Society of London) and Adrian Durkin (Dudley Museum & Art Gallery)) gathered at the Lapworth Museum, University of Birmingham and deliberated over the images. Malcolm Nugent’s ‘Etna Beneath Our Feet’ (above right) was awarded First Prize, taking away £200
Themed years are at the heart of the Society’s Science Strategy, and this year the Society celebrates both the ‘Year of Mud’ and the bicentenary of William Smith’s famous geological map. With these in mind, the West Midlands, Southern Wales and North West Regional Groups of the Society and Black Country Geological Society are joining, with sponsorship provided by Geotechnical Engineering Ltd., to bring you the 3rd annual photographic competition on the theme of… ‘Geologica Britannica -
Exhibiting the Geology of the British Isles and Applied Geology in the British Isles’.
Full details of the rules can be found at www.geolsoc.org.uk/JointPhotoComp - images will be selected by a panel of independent Judges and there will be 10 winners:
- 1st Prize: £200 Sponsored by Geotechnical Engineering Limited, plus £150 special publication gift voucher donated by Geological Society Publishing House, plus William Smith Map Reproduction and Memoir.
- 2nd Prize: £150 Sponsored by Geotechnical Engineering Limited plus Geological Map of Great Britain, Bicentennial edition
- 3rd Prize: £100 Sponsored by Geotechnical Engineering Limited plus Geological Map of Great Britain, Bicentennial edition
- 4th and 5th Prizes: Geological Map of Great Britain, Bicentennial edition
- 6th to 10th Prize: Geological Hammer USB Drive, donated by Geological Society London
You have until midnight Tuesday 1 December. Submit your images to [email protected]. For detailed rules, terms and conditions please visit www.geolsoc.org.uk/JointPhotoComp. @wmids_geolsoc #GeologicaBritannic #JointPhotoComp.