The FOTICMAB 2022 has received the participation of 28 pictures in the ARTISTIC category, 20 pictures in the SCIENCE category, 34 pictures in the FAUNA AND FLORA category!
Congratulations to all the participants! You can take a look at all the photos and the votes they received, at the FOTICMAB website.
There is one winner in each category, and two finalists. And they are…
Scientific category
First prize: 'Rainbow waves'
By Rossella Zaffino, from the Functional Nanomaterials and Surfaces group (FunNanoSurf). Rossella Zaffino is a postdotoral researcher in the group, where she develops graphene molecular junctions, and has participated in previous editions of the FOTICMAB contest. Last year, in 2021, her photo 'Paradise Birds' was the First Finalist in the scientific category.
This is what she says about the picture: "Would you dive into a sea of rainbows? Unfortunately this sea is too small to dive in, as it was obtained after the droplets of a curcuminoid evaporated on a silicon oxide surface. This process is not easily scalable to a regular sea size and we are not working on it! So you can just dve your eyes into the picture in the most rainbow month of the year!"
First finalist: 'Horse Head nebula'
By Ángel Pérez del Pino, researcher at the Laser Processing Group. Ángel Pérez enjoys taking pictures and looking at objects in the night sky with his telescope. Although he works with laser techniques to create graphene-based compounds, he is really a space fan.
"The Horse Head nebula, in Orionis constellation, is an emission nebula partially shielded by a dark interstellar dust region (horse head".
Second finalist: 'Eau de N&N. Scent: Bacterial cellulose roses'
By Amanda Muñoz, PhD researcher at the Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites (NN) group. Amanda Muñoz works with bacterial cellulose, and evaluates its toxicity with the model organism C. elegans.
Here she makes fun of this perfume: “Stained bacterial cellulose. The best present for ladies and gentlemen. Available at th N&N group. Limited edition".
Artistic category
First prize: 'Pont del petroli'
By Bernat Bozzo, Senior Technician at the Low Temperatures and Magnetometry Lab. Bernat Bozzo is an active participant of the FOTICMAB contest, and each year he receives some prizes. He also belongs to a photography association in his hometown, Manresa.
"La sortida del sol a l'hivern al Pont del Petroli és un espectacle cromàtic", he says.
First finalist: 'Church'
By Shunya Yan, PhD researcher at the Physical Chemistry of Surfaces and Interfaces (SURFACES) group.
Second finalist: 'The temple'
By Shunya Yan, PhD researcher at the Physical Chemistry of Surfaces and Interfaces (SURFACES) group. Shunya Yan has won the two finalists photos of the Artistic Category. Congratulations!
In this photo, she shows "The Greek temple in Madrid".
Fauna & Flora category
First prize: 'Hungry Bird'
By Svenja Thömel, a chemical engineering student from Dresden, Germany. She is at ICMAB for her practical semester until August working on fluorescent nanoparticles for bioimaging at the Nanomol-Bio group.
“Way too trustinng...” she says about the image.
First finalist: 'Myocastor coypus'
By Pablo García, PhD researcher at the Laser Processing Group. He is a Physicist and did his Masters in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He also participated and won some awards in previous FOTICMAB competitions.
“Unexpected frind found at the riverside of Saale” he says about the image.
Second finalist: 'Pol·linitzant'
By Bernat Bozzo, Senior Technician at the Low Temperatures and Magnetometry Lab. Bernat Bozzo is an active participant of the FOTICMAB contest, and each year he receives some prizes. He also belongs to a photography association in his hometown, Manresa. He has two awarded photos in this year's contest.
“Fràgils són les ales de l'abellot que, amb una subtil visita a la fràgil flor, escampa el seu pol·len i contribueix a mantenir el fràgil equilibri del nostre ecosistema" 
Congratulations to everyone who won, and thank you to all the participants!