To mark the 100th anniversary of female Fellowship of the UK Geological Society, Geoscientist Magazine is running a competition which will see the winner receive £100 prize money, a year’s subscription to the magazine and, most importantly their image or photograph will appear on the front cover of the May edition!

The first eight women to become Fellows of the Geological Society were elected on 21 May 1919. They included pioneering graptolite research Gertrude Elles, eminent palaeontologist and politician Dame Maria Ogilvie and stratigrapher and palaeontologist Ethel Skeat.

Their admission followed decades of campaigning, and was finally achieved following a curiously mundane amendment to the Society’s bye-laws:

‘Article XXIII. Interpretation – In the interpretation of these Bye-Laws words in the masculine gender only, shall include the feminine gender also.’

It was a major victory in a long campaign by female geologists to be recognised by their peers – read “The road to Fellowship – the history of women and the Geological Society.

The competition

The best design that represents will be the cover image for the May issue of Geoscientist

It’s up to you how you interpret the theme. You could send a drawing of your favourite female geologist, a photograph of yourself or your colleagues in the lab or in the field, an artwork which you feel represents the importance of diversity in the geosciences, or… maybe it could also have a remote sensing slant..?!

Your entry can take any format – a photograph, painting, drawing or other artwork – and you can send a digital scan or post the physical copy. Entries must be in portrait dimensions, and if sent digitally, they must be of print quality.

Entry is free and open to all. You can submit as many entries as you like, individually or jointly – all entries must arrive by midnight on Sunday 17th March.

How to enter

Or you can post entries to:

Geoscientist Cover Competition
Burlington House
Piccadilly
London
W1J0BG

Good luck!