Results of 2015 Vita Photo Competition

Hamish Symington

Vita’s 2015 international photo competition attracted the largest numbers of entries yet with submissions from people on five continents.

The overall winner is Hamish Symington with his image of two bees, each with its proboscis extended, drinking nectar from comb.

Fourteen entries will appear in the limited edition 2016 Vita Calendar distributed to Vita’s global network and the winners. Some of the photos are below and a pdf file of the full calendar is available for free download to users of the Vita Gallery www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/gallery.

The 2016 Vita Calendar line-up is:
January ………. Pierre Roth
February ……… Margaret Edge
March …………. Yudy Sauw
April …………… Sadie Illett
May ……………. Catherine Cendre
June …………… Jody Gerdts-Martin
July ……………. Margaret Edge
August ………… Shantay Francis
September …… Hamish Symington
October ……….. Sarah Smithers
November ……. Susan Kimber
December ……. Luka Sljivic

Under-16 winner ……… Alexandre Coulange-Guillamet
Honourable mention … Karol Steele

Sebastian Owen, Commercial Manager at Vita (Europe) Ltd, said: “Entries to the 2015 Vita Photo Competition were of even higher quality than previous years with some stunning photos. The judging panel certainly had a tough task in selecting entries from across the globe and we were pleased to see some innovative close-ups and montages. We warmly thank our judging panel and, of course, especially the entrants.”

The 2015 Vita Calendar will be sent to Vita distributors across the globe, but a medium resolution pdf file of the calendar can be downloaded at no cost by registered users of the Vita Photo Gallery. Registration is free and it can be accessed via www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/gallery

The international judging panel was: Miguel Tejerina of Apilab in Argentina, Yeşim Altay of Bavet in Turkey, Jesús Yepez Peña of Vetinova in Mexico, Capucine Meneau of Apinov in France, Svetlana Pantyukhina of Vita CIS in Russia, plus Giles Blomfield, Jeremy Owen and Max Watkins on behalf of Vita (Europe) in the UK.

A selection of the photos is below. Sign up for the Vita Gallery (free) and download the 2016 Vita Calendar.

Yudy Sauw

Pierre Roth

Luka Sljivic

Catherine Cendre

Notes To Editors

Vita (Europe) Limited is a mite control and honeybee health specialist. It is the world’s largest dedicated supplier of honeybee health products to the honey and pollination industries. With a rigorous and ethical approach to research and development into honeybee health, Vita has no commercial interests in crop pesticides or crop breeding that may be harmful to honeybees.

Vita researches, develops, and manufactures a range of honeybee health products. Its headquarters are in the UK, it has offices in Italy, France and Russia, and partners across the globe. These products are marketed internationally through a network of 60 distributors in 50 countries.

Vita’s honeybee health product range includes anti-varroa acaricides – Apistan® (outside the USA/Canada) and Apiguard® – chalkbrood and wax moth controls, foulbrood diagnostic kits and health-promoting feeds. Vita also supplies Asian hornet traps, Small Hive Beetle traps and swarm lures. Vita products have been registered by more than 60 veterinary authorities.

Vita promotes sustainable beekeeping through Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Its treatments are designed to inhibit the build-up of resistance and wherever possible contain natural compounds and biological controls that are benign to all but the target pests.

Vita invests a very high proportion of its turnover in research and development. Research partners include universities such as Thessaloniki, Cardiff, Milan, Udine and Naples and institutes such as the FERA Laboratories in the UK and the USDA in America. Vita’s innovative research and development work has been recognised by and has received support from the UK Government.

As a result of its primary research of natural control agents, Vita is currently engaged in new projects exploring mite control in the agriculture, veterinary, and horticulture industries as well as public health and human allergen control.

See www.vita-europe.com for more information and a web app which can be accessed at www.healthybeeguide.com.

Follow Vita as “Vita (Europe) Ltd” on Facebook and Google+ and as @vitaeuropeltd on Twitter.

Media Enquiries
Stephen Fleming at Palam Communications
+44 (0) 1635 299116