Zoology-2012. Vertebrate Photo Contest During Practice

I think the ability to photograph animals is part of a biologist's professional training. This year we held, for the first time, a vertebrate photo contest based on photographs taken during practice in Haidary. The procedure and rules still need refinement, but I think we have launched a good format. Sixty-eight photographs from 11 students were submitted to the contest. The contest worked like this. Everyone who wished to did so viewed the set of contest photographs on the screen of the large television in the dining hall. After a collective discussion, we compiled a list of 13 photographs (it included all frames that were liked by a fairly significant number of participants in the discussion, and there were about 40 of them). Then we held a general vote. Each person had three votes, which they cast for the three photographs they considered best. I counted the votes and then ranked the 13 best frames by the number of votes, selecting the winning photographs. So, first place, a frame by Yuliya Matsiuk. [IMG_1] Second place, a frame by Kristina Vinogradova with the participation of Yuliya Sakun. [IMG_2] Third place, a frame by Veronika Dushkevych [IMG_3] There is a debatable point about whether one can award extra points for successful photographs. One view (expressed by a colleague I respect) is that such a possibility places students in unequal conditions: not everyone has cameras. For now, however, I used the opportunity to add bonuses to the authors of the best frames. How we will act in the future remains to be decided. Congratulations to the winners, and I urge everyone to keep taking good photographs of animals!