BrAVO Photography Competition – 2026
CALL FOR PHOTOS!!!!
There are many highly proficient photographers in our Bravo membership midst and for years we have been proudly showing off our best photos to anyone who would give them a cursory glance.
Well, there is finally an appropriate outlet for them:
Introducing to the BrAVO Winter Meeting 2026
The INAUGURAL BrAVO PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Whether you’ve captured an ocular oddity, a funky fundus, a show stopping surgery or simply a cheeky candid photo depicting life in veterinary ophthalmology, we want to see it!
*****Submission Deadline: 30th October 2026*****
The categories are…..
- Clinical: Spectocular Cases
Clinical photographs, intra-operative images and other examples of veterinary ophthalmology at its most visually stunning
- Silly: Eyes and Lows
The category for photographs that make us laugh, cry or question our life choices
First place £100 cash prize for each category!
££££££
Rules
Eligibility
The competition is open to BrAVO members only and you must be attending the Winter Meeting for a minimum of one day.
Entry Limit
One entry per category per person. I appreciate that some of you have entire hard drives filled with eye photographs, but difficult choices must be made.
Original Work
Images must have been taken by the entrant. I have no way of verifying this, but I am trusting you all to submit your own work.
AI need not apply
Basic editing (cropping, colour correction, exposure adjustments) is permitted but AI-generated images are NOT! Your entry will be unceremoniously rejected from the competition and your drink ticket might mysteriously go missing if there is even a whiff of a computer generated imagery.
Keep it professional-ish
Images containing nudity, excessive debauchery or anything likely to bring our profession into disrepute will be disqualified from the competition, but may be circulated privately in the BrAVO committee WhatsApp group or forwarded to the local constabulary.
*Important and Serious*
GDPR Compliance
Photographs containing identifiable people or patients must comply with all applicable GDPR and confidentiality requirements. Where individuals can be identified, written consent for photographic use must have been obtained and submitted with your entries.
By entering, participants confirm that the image is their own work, that they have the necessary permissions to submit it, and that its display will not breach client confidentiality, patient confidentiality, data protection rules, or workplace policy.
The organisers reserve the right to reject entries that do not meet the rules, are unsuitable for display, are of insufficient resolution, or raise consent/confidentiality concerns.
Use of Images
By entering, participants grant BrAVO permission to display submitted images:
- During the Winter Meeting
- On official BrAVO social media
- In newsletters
Appropriate credit will always be given and you will retain copyright of your image.
Please note that audience members may photograph displayed entries. While this will be discouraged, realistically I have very little control over what delegates choose to do once images are on display.
If you are uncomfortable with your image potentially being photographed and shared by others, please consider this carefully before submitting. Ultimately, this competition is intended to be a bit of fun, and by entering you acknowledge that displayed images may be viewed and photographed by meeting attendees.
Finally, by entering the competition, you agree to these rules.
Submission Requirements
The submission deadline is 30th October 2026
Entries will be anonymised when displayed for judging but must include
- Photograph title (max 10 words-ish)
- A short description or comment (Max 50 words-ish). This could include species, diagnosis or suspected diagnosis, imaging modality or a short caption
Please state the category you wish to enter – I don’t want to offend anyone by putting their clinical image in the silly category and vice versa.
Image specifications
Accepted formats:
- JPG
- PNG
- TIFF
- Anything that will open on my computer
Image Quality:
Images will be printed at approximately A4 size and both portrait and landscape orientations will be accepted.
Ideally, images should be 300 DPI (2480 × 3508 pixels) to ensure good print quality.
For reference:
- A smartphone photo is usually 3000 – 8000 pixels on the long edge
- A DSLR image is usually 4000 – 8000+ pixels on the long edge
Clinical Category: Please submit the highest resolution version available. I reserve the right to reject entries that appear noticeably pixelated when enlarged.
Silly Category: Silliness will always be prioritised over technical perfection in this category. Phone photographs are welcome, provided they can be displayed on the big screen/printed without looking like a mosaic.
In general, if the image looked sharp when you took it and hasn’t been repeatedly screenshotted, edited, emailed, downloaded and re-uploaded, it will probably be fine.
Judging
All Winter Meeting attendees will be invited to vote for their favourite image in each category.
Winners will be determined by popular vote. In the unlikely event of a tie, the deciding vote will be cast by the Photography Competition Head Judge (that’s me). For the avoidance of doubt, I will remain completely impartial (but highly judgemental) and will not be submitting any photos. Other SciCom members are welcome to submit entries.
Exhibition
Entries will be printed on the finest quality photographic paper the BrAVO treasurers will allow me to buy without impacting the ticket price. Photographs will be displayed in the exhibition area, on the big screen and will also be available to view online for the duration of the meeting.
Category winners will be announced at the Gala Dinner
Please send your entries to josie.parker@ed.ac.uk before the closing date. Large files that can’t be sent via email can be transferred using Dropbox, Teams or WeTransfer.
Ultimately, it’s free to enter and have your photo printed and admired, plus you could win some cash, so get snapping!
Very best wishes,
Josie
Head Judge of the Inaugural BrAVO Photography Competition
BrAVO Scientific Committee
PS: This is the first photography competition I have run, so I fully expect there to be at least one glaring omission, several minor f—ups and possibly an entirely new category of mistake that nobody has encountered before so please let me know if I’ve missed something important! Thanks J