You can read the judges comments and artist's responses in our blog - You can read all about them in our blog www.palaeosoc.org/latest-news/...
For details on how to apply for the 2026 Marsh Palaeoart Award, see our website - www.palaeosoc.org/grants-prize...

Our second Highly Commended winner was @nataliajagielska.bsky.social, for 'Ancient, smiling Dorset'. This series of works, produced as stickers for the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, maintain accuracy while creating something fun, making them perfect for engaging with a wide audience. Super work!

Our Highly Commended winner was @palaeojules.bsky.social with 'Alderblattina simmsi walking across Selaginellites sp. and cf. Takakia’. This piece is filled with delicacy and fine detail, and the judges were delighted to see plants given as much consideration as an animal. Well done Julianne!

Our Overall Winner was @matt-humpage.bsky.social, with 'The Rhynie chert: a palaeoenvironment reconstruction'. This image, sculpted in Blender, is so realistic one judge commented “I want to sniff the peaty soil and feel the moist air on my skin.” Congratulations Matt!

Thanks again to our members for all your support. Keep an eye out for more details on our award winners soon. Lots of other activities to come in the next year!

Our council has had some changes: we said farewell to @palaeobarbie.bsky.social, @echinerd.bsky.social and @Michela-Johnson@bsky.social. Thanks for everything you've done! We welcomed three new council members, @neilgostling.bsky.social Gostling, @marcehjones.bsky.social and Dr Simon Harris.

We had a short talk from previous Richard Owen Award winner, Dr Georgios Georgalis, on 'The lizards and snakes from Hordle and other Eocene localities of the UK'. Amazing to see how much snake research our fund has supported!

We recognised two artists as Highly Commended for our Marsh Palaeoart Award as well: @nataliajagielska.bsky.social (in absentia), for 'Ancient, smiling Dorset', and @palaeojules.bsky.social (pictured), for 'Alderblattina simmsi walking across Selaginellites sp. and cf. Takakia'.

The second Marsh Palaeoart Award was presented to our Overall Winner, Matt Humpage, for his beautiful and complex figure, 'The Rhynie chert: a palaeoenvironment reconstruction'. Matt also delivered a fascinating short talk on his work and how his piece was created.

We awarded two Richard Owen Research Grants this year, to @christinesd.bsky.social (left) for the project, 'Investigating mycorrhizas in the Rhynie chert plants', and to Edward Bartlett (right), for 'Description of the osteology and taphonomy of Pliosaurus'. Looking forward to seeing the results!

Well done to our Edward Forbes Prize winner, @stephanspiekman.bsky.social for his paper on ‘The postcranial anatomy and osteohistology of Terrestrisuchus gracilis (Archosauria, Crocodylomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Wales.’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our Edward Forbes Prize recognises outstanding contributions by early career researchers in taxonomic & systematic palaeontology in all fields. The prize is £250 & Society membership. Closing date 28th Feb 2025. Full details: www.palaeosoc.org/grants-prize...