Biofilm Create! Photography and Art Competition 2025

Our Biofilm Create! Photography and Art Competition is back for 2025!
The competition forms part of our #BiofilmAware campaign, which works to raise awareness of NBIC and its research, and the many societal and economic impacts of biofilms. There are two categories within the Biofilm Create! Competition; photography and art.

 

This is a unique opportunity for scientists to look at creative ways of showcasing their work – and also for members of the public, budding artists and photographers to explore biofilms in their everyday environments.

The competition is now open and will run until 5pm UK time on Friday 17 October 2025. 

Please submit your entries using the online application form. 

Take a look at our Biofilm Image Gallery and Biofilm Art Gallery for some inspiration. The gallery contains a selection of images from our three previous competitions. 

 

Biofilm Create 2025 Competition banner with condensed information

Eligibility

  • Participants can enter multiple times but can only receive one prize per category. If an individual is scored highly enough to win multiple prizes in a category, we will default the prize to the next highest scoring participant, but will acknowledge the highly rated score when we announce the winners.
  • Prizes can only be made available for UK residents, but international participants are encouraged to use the hashtags #BiofilmCreate #BiofilmAware to support our campaign and raise their own professional profiles.   
  • We will accept entries from anyone over 18, including members of the public, scientists, academics, students and amateur photographers/artists.   
  • You must have been involved in the production of the image and/or artwork and have secured permission (from all the other parties) to enter. 
  • The NBIC Operational Team and NBIC Board Members are unable to enter.  
  • We will not accept previous entries from any of our previous competitions. 

 

 

Art Category

For the art category, examples of entries could include the following (this list is not exhaustive).

Take a look at our Biofilm Create Guide for a definition of ‘art’ and tips on photographing physical artwork. Please contact us if you have any questions in relation to art forms we will accept.   

 

Art Entry format 
Painting, illustration, graphic design, 3D rendering, textiles, sculpture, modelling, mosaic, carving, printmaking, petri-dish art Photograph (.tiff, .png or .jpg/jpeg) or pdf 
Short film, dance, dramatic performance Recorded to mp4 video file 
Music Recorded to mp3 or mp4 music file 
Poem, short story Word Document 

 

 

Photography Category

For the photography category, will accept images taken on any type of camera or device using microscopic imaging equipment.

Our Biofilm Create Guide provides guidance on where to find biofilms and tips on snapping biofilms either in real life, or under the microscope.    

 

Photography  Entry format 
Macroscopic photography and microscopic photography tiff, png, or jpg/jpeg image file  

 

Judging

The competition will close at 5pm UK time on Friday 17 October 2025.  

A diverse panel of judges will take into account creativity, originality, composition, imagination used, scientific value and the overall artistic impression in both categories.  

We will confirm the outcomes to the winners, judges and entrants by 14 November 2025. NBIC will publicly announce the winners of the competition during #BiofilmWeek, which will take place from 18-24 November 2025. 

 

Please note

  • NBIC reserves the right to publish entries with the credit titles to its social media channels throughout the submission period to publicise the contest. Such publication does not guarantee an award of any kind.
  • Please do not post your art in the mail. We can only accept art in the formats mentioned above. However, depending on the number of entries we receive to this category, we may look to hold an in-person exhibition in the future, so please keep hold of your work.   
  • Images on websites and social media can potentially be shared and viewed throughout the world and not just in the United Kingdom and some overseas countries may not provide the same level of protection to the rights of individuals as EU/UK legislation. 

If you require any further information or have any questions about this competition, please contact us at nbic@biofilms.ac.uk 

Publication date