Scott Royle: “This is a photo taken from a beach in Newfoundland looking out upon the incoming fog of the mighty Atlantic. Across that ocean lay the literal subjects of my research, long since buried.” | ‘Hither to Northumbria’ by Scott Royle, first place and Alumni Choice award winner
On November 30th, at the Dean’s Awards for Excellence ceremony, the Faculty of Arts and Science proudly announced the winners of its second Graduate Research Photo Contest.
Dubbed "Capture your research in a snap!", the competition garnered submissions from graduate students spanning a wide array of disciplines, once again this year.
FAS Dean Pascale Sicotte expressed the motivation behind the initiative: "We aim to discover a creative avenue to showcase and applaud the diverse, innovative, and thought-provoking research conducted by our graduate students in the fields of Science, Social Sciences and Humanities."
“Once again this year, entries flooded the contest,” reports Francesca Scala, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies. “The distinguished jury had a difficult task in selecting the top three winners.”
Each of the winners were awarded cash prizes of $500, $300, and $100, respectively. Additionally, the judges acknowledged three honorable mentions. A new category was also created this year: the Alumni Choice award.
The first-place winner Scott Royle, from the Department of English, submitted ‘Hither to Northumbria’.
“What I study are the miracle stories of Anglo-Saxon hagiographers, many of which were inherited from their Irish brethren,” explains Royle. “Plenty of these miraculous stories involving mighty storms, prosperous winds, and fortuitous ships take place on that same, cold, North Atlantic Sea toward which my camera was pointed on a calm, warm, sunny – the type of day in Newfoundland which is, in itself, something of a miracle.”
Cloe Cull: “All summer, I spent hours and hours of searching for bird nests and following them as they progressed. I love Yellow Warbler nests because they are lined with fluff. It seems like such a cozy place to be curled up in.” | ‘Feed Me!’, by Cloe Cull, second place
‘Beautiful but Deadly!’, by Prerna Singh, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
‘Using remote sensing to capture biodiversity’, by Jennifer Donnini, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment
‘Waiting Covid-19 Out’, by Arturo Equivel, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
'A crystal with excellent parenting skills’, by Victor Felipe Novo, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry