Ukrainian polar explorers from the Akademik Vernadsky station set a record

Polar explorers from the Akademik Vernadsky station have set a record in the WikiScience Contest for scientific images for Wikipedia.

According to the press service of the National Antarctic Science Center, they won three first places and one third place in different nominations.

These are:

• People in Science nomination, 1st place. The author is Anna Soina, a geophysicist. Two photos of Oleksandr Bohomaz, geophysicist of the 29th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition, painting the masts of a passive ionosonde at the Akademik Vernadsky station at an altitude of 12 meters.
• Nomination "Living Organisms", 1st place Authors - Anna Soina and Oleksandr Bohomaz, geophysicists
• The series "Birds of the Antarctic". From Anna: a photo of a South Polar skua during a long cry near the Akademik Vernadsky station and a giant petrel resting on the coastal rocks of Galindez Island at the end of the Antarctic summer. From Oleksandr: a photo of a South Polar skua with a chick and a baby white tit in a nest on Galindez Island.
• Nomination "Non-photographic images", 1st place Author - Zoya Shvydka, biologist. The video shows a winged seal crawling on the ice.

Third place in the General Category nomination. The author is Anna Soina Penguins and regulated tourism in the Antarctic. The contest was held in Ukraine from November 20 to December 20, 2025. Its goal was to collect images that document the world of science to illustrate articles on Wikipedia.

In 2025, 76 participants submitted 744 images - the most in all years since the record-breaking year of 2020. The works competed in five categories: "Microscopy, Living Organisms, People in Science, Non-photographic Images, General Category, and the special category Consequences of War. The 2025 competition was international, so the best images of the Ukrainian stage will also compete at the global level.

Кирило Бойко