Looking back at the EGU Blogs in 2016: a competition

Image modified from Moonscape by Alvaro Folhas (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The past 12 months has seen an impressive 360 posts published across the EGU’s official blog, GeoLog, as well as the network and division blogs. From a lighthearted Aprils Fools’ Day post featuring an extreme chromatic phenomenon (otherwise known as FIB); through to how climate change is affecting mountain plant’s sex ratios; features on natural hazard events throughout the year and children’s disarming ability to ask really simple questions that demand straightforward answers, 2016 has been packed full of exciting, insightful and informative blog posts.

EGU Best Blog Post of 2016 Competition

To celebrate the excellent display of science writing across the network and division blogs, we are launching the EGU Blogs competition.

From now until Monday 16^th January, we invite you, the EGU Blogs readers, to vote for your favourite post of 2016. Take a look at the poll below, click on each post to read it in full, and cast your vote for the one you think deserves the accolade of best post of 2016. The post with the most votes by will be crowned the winner.

[polldaddy poll=9618218]

New in 2016

Not only have the blogs seen some great writing throughout the year, they’ve also continued to keep readers up to date with news and information relevant to each of our scientific divisions.

With the addition of WaterUnderground, the network blogs now feature a groundwater nerd blog written by a global collective of hydrogeologic researchers. The new blog is for water resource professionals, academics and anyone interested in groundwater, research, teaching and supervision. Excitingly, it is also the first blog hosted jointly by the EGU Blogs and the AGU blogosphere.

The portfolio of division blogs was also expanded, with the addition of the Tectonics and Structural Geology (TS), Planetary and Solar System Sciences(PS) and Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI) blogs back in July. Since then they’ve featured posts on big data, a regular feature showcasing the variety of research methods used in tectonics and structural geology and research from the now iconic Rosetta Mission.

Fissure eruption at Bardabunga in 2014. Photo by Ragnar Th. Sigurdsson, as featured on the TS Blog.

Get involved

Are you a budding science writer, or want to try your hand at science communication? All the EGU Blogs, from GeoLog (the official EGU blog), through to the network and division blogs, welcome guest contributions from scientists, students and professionals in the Earth, planetary and space sciences.

It couldn’t be easier to get involved. Decide what you’d like to write about, find the blog that is the best fit for your post and contact the blog editor – you can find all editor details on the individual blog pages. If in doubt, you can submit your idea for a post via the Submit a Post page on GeoLog, or email the EGU Communications Officer, Laura Roberts, who can help with initial enquiries and introduce you to individual blog editors.

Don’t forget to a look at the blog pages for a flavour of the content you can expect from the new, and existing, blogs in 2017. The blogs are also a great place to learn about new opportunities, exciting fields of research and keep up to date with news relating to the upcoming 2017 General Assembly.

Editor’s note on the EGU Best Blog Post of 2016 Competition: The winning post will be that with the most votes on 15th January 2017. The winner will be announced on GeoLog shortly after voting closes. The winning post will take home an EGU goodie bag, as well as a book of the winners choice from the EGU library (there are up to 4 goodie bags and books available per blog. These are available for the blog editor(s) – where the winning post belongs to a multi-editor blog, and for the blog post author – where the author is a regular contributor or guest author and not the blog editor). In addition, a banner announcing the blog as the winner of the competition will be displayed on the blog’s landing page throughout 2017.