Ebola Virus Illustration Wins 2016 Wellcome Image Awards

The Ebola virus, captured in watercolour and ink, has been selected as the overall winner for the 2016 Wellcome Image Awards.

This intricate painting by David Goodsell shows in minute detail the internal structure of this tiny, notoriously lethal virus. The central core is drawn in three dimensions so that you can see its structure more clearly, a view only possible through illustration.

Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Correspondent and member of the judging panel said “This is a stunning illustration of a deadly pathogen – a cross-section through an Ebola virus particle. The judges felt that this watercolour and ink image elegantly displayed the biological structure of the virus that has caused such devastation in West Africa.”

 It is one of 20 winning images that were selected to reward and showcase the best in science image making from all those acquired by the Wellcome Images picture library in the past year.

 This year’s awards also saw the launch of the Julie Dorrington Award for outstanding photography in a clinical environment. This was awarded to David Bishop for his photograph of a premature baby receiving light therapy. The baby is bathed in the blue glow of ultra violet light which is being used to treat jaundice, quite a common condition in newborn babies. 

Catherine Draycott, Head of Wellcome Images and chair of the judging panel said “Both the overall winner and the Julie Dorrington winner combine technology and creativity to communicate science and medicine. David Goodsell uses detailed data and his scientific knowledge along with his talent as an artist to reveal the structure and function of Ebola, while David Bishop combines his skill and sensitivity to show a newborn baby cradled in a pool of therapeutic light emanating from sophisticated equipment.”

 The awards were presented at a ceremony at the Science Museum in London on 15 March, where the images are now on show to the public.  The winning images will be on show at several locations throughout the UK and also further afield at the Africa Centre for Population Health in South Africa, the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow, Russia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in USA.