Over 150 early career researchers recently show-cased their reserach as part of the poster competition held during the POLAR2018 conference (Davos, Switzerland, 15-26 June). The well-deserved prizes (based on geographical region) were awarded at the closing ceremony.  The competition was organised by APECS and coordinated by Ruth Vingerhagen on behalf of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) . We sincerely thank all the judges who contributed their time to judge the posters!

The six winning posters

Africa and Middle East
Winner: Luca Stirnimann, University of Cape Town, "The Island Mass Effect (IME) on carbon cycling in the plankton ecosystem around the Prince Edward Islands archipelago". 
Runner-up: Daniela Monsanto, University of Johannesburg, "Genetic patterns at fine spatial scales: complex findings in a complex landscape".

Asia
Winner: Gautami Samui, ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, "Nutrient cycling in supraglacial ecosystems in Larsemann Hills, East Antarctica".
Runner-up: Shridhar Jawak, ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, "Mapping surface facies of selected alpine glaciers from Himalaya using worldview-2 imagery".

Europe
Winner: Sandra Brugger, University of Bern, "Five millennia of environmental dynamics from an ice core in the Mongolian Altai".
Runner-up: Ewa Poniecka, Cardiff University, "The secret life of bactiera: Ecological function in cryoconite hole environments".

The six runner-up posters

North America
Winner: Joel Singley, University of Colorado Boulder, "Sub-daily biogeochemical cycling in sediment of an ephemeral meltwater stream".
Runner-up: Mark England, Columbia University, "The contribution of internal variability to recent sea ice loss across the Arctic".

Oceania
Winner: Kara Layton, The University of Western Australia, "A newly discovered radiation of endoparasitic gastropods in Antarctica".
Runner-up: Wilma Huneke, University of Tasmania, "Deep bottom mixed layer instability drives variability of Antarctic slope front".

South America
Winner: Elisa Seyboth, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, "Isotopic-based warming effects on the northern Antarctic Peninsula ecosystem".
Runner-up: Sérgio Gonçalves Jr., Federal University of Paraná, "Aerosol integrated analysis in central west Antarctica: Brazilian standalone unit".

L to R: Luca, Sandra and Elisa, winners of Africa and Middle East, Europe and South America respectively. Hanne Nielsen, president of APECS presenting Luca with his award. Steven Chown and Larry Hinzmann, presidents of SCAR and IASC respectively, presenting Sandra with her award. Elisa.