Antarctica Day 2018

• The action ‘A Flag for Antarctica!’ inspired children from local organizations to create a flag for Antarctica! The flags traveled to Antarctica with our network of polar early career researchers, and we then sent the local organization a picture of the flag in the Icy Continent.
• The booklet “Celebrating Antarctica” was distributed to local schools and libraries. This colourful education resource is a free download, and it has been translated in many (many!) different languages.
• ‘Ask an Expert’ webinar: we organized two public webinars on December 5th 2018, one in Englisch one in Spanish. These were aimed to engage high school students with Antarctic research, to ask questions to polar early career researchers and inspire the next generation to get involved in the protection of Antarctica. 

This date of December 1st marks the 59th anniversary of the day the Antarctic Treaty was opened for signature, establishing Antarctica as a place of peace and international scientific exploration. In 2018 we joined the international celebrations for Antarctica Day 2018 organising the ‘Tell a story’ photo competition for APECS members We invited to share experiences in Antarctica with one photo and a brief paragraph that tells the story connected with Antarctica. 

Thank you to all the participants for their submissions. The entries showed various facets of Antarctica from its natural beauties to the research activities and many more with a short interesting story behind it.

Thanks to all member of the public for voting. After all the votes are in, we are happy to announce the winners of the competition:

1st Prize: Renato Borras-Chavez (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile)



Location: Livingston Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica; Date: 2017; Story: This Antarctic fur seal female returned from one of its foraging trips to sea but her pup was eaten hours before. A fresh wound resemble a heart, projecting both a physical and emotional cold pain. Research: “living in the fast lane. Foraging behavior at their southernmost breeding distribution”.

2nd Prize: Andrew Corso (Virginia Institute of Marine Science)



Location: Near the Western Antarctic Peninsula; Date: January 2018; Story: Many believe the narrow channels that surround the Western Antarctic Peninsula contain the most beautiful scenery in the region. This was a rare sunny and calm day when we passed through the Neumayer. 

3rd Prize: Johanna Grabow (Leipzig University, Germany)



Location: Salisbury Plain, South Georgia; Date: February 2018; Story: Life can be tough, but no matter how hard it is, a colony of penguins will always cheer you up.