BioArtAttack 2D winners 2025 announced
Date: 2 Oct 2025
The Royal Society of Biology’s BioArtAttack 2D competition combines science and art in a 2D format to celebrate and showcase the detailed observation of the natural world and the wonders of biology. The winners for 2025 have been announced.
Over 700 creative entries were received this year with six winners chosen across the different categories and one highly commended prize.
An award was given to each of the two categories: BioArtAttack (UK only) for any 2D artwork featuring an endangered animal, plant, or fungus; and the Nancy Rothwell Prize (worldwide) for labelled specimen drawings to highlight the benefits of combining art and science.
The competition was open to young people age 7-18, split into three age categories (7-11, 12-14, and 15-18).
The winners of the BioArtAttack 2D competition will be awarded a prize bundle provided by Defra to mark the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) coming into effect. The winners of the Nancy Rothwell Prize will receive a cash prize of £50. All winners from across the categories are invited to an experience day at the Royal Veterinary College.
Winners
7-11 category
BioArtAttack 2D Award winner Ameka Karthick with ‘Amazonian Poison Dart Frog’ from King’s College School, Cambridge, UK.
On winning the award, Ameka said: “I was on cloud nine when I found out I had won the competition. I am most grateful to receive an award of such prestige.
I had selected the Amazonian poison dart frog for several reasons: I admire its flamboyance and scintillating colours and I have always been fascinated with rainforests in general. I have always had an affinity towards biology and art. I recall being inspired by a magazine I once read in a science lesson; it had several pictures of exquisite, exotic animals which piqued my interest."
Nancy Rothwell Prize winner Sangyu Joel Sun with ‘Royal Penguin’ from Singapore American School, Singapore.
Commenting on their prize, Sangyu said: “I’m delighted to be chosen as the winner. I decided to draw a royal penguin because I share many traits with penguins. I’m shy, yet curious, just like they are. While choosing which animal to draw, I wanted to show my love for endangered animals. I was also inspired by the night skies of Antarctica, which I found stunning. This award motivates me to keep raising awareness about endangered animals.”
12-14 category
BioArtAttack 2D Award winner Sonika Sashikant Panchal with ‘The Sunda Tiger’ from Hitchin Girls’ School, Hertfordshire, UK.
Sonika said of winning their award: “I was thrilled and amazed to find out I’d won! I never imagined I’d make it this far in the competition. I chose the Sunda tiger because it’s an endangered species and I wanted to raise awareness of it through my art.”
Nancy Rothwell Prize winner Sophia Yutong Zhu with ‘Blue Jay’ from Singapore International School, Hong Kong.
Sophia said: “When I got the news, I think I was in a state of shock for five minutes … thank you so much RSB. Trying to gather all the information I could about the [blue jay], it really is a fascinating species despite just being a "backyard bird", and now I'm so envious of those people with these birds in their backyards. If you really look at it, it is quite similar to us human beings in many ways.”
15-18 category
BioArtAttack 2D Award winner Naomi Annetts with ‘The Lemur’ from Ibstock Place School, London, UK.
Commenting on winning the award, Naomi said: “I am very excited about winning this competition. I chose to paint the black and white ruffed lemur because it lives only in Madagascar so relies entirely on that specific habitat. This inspired me because deforestation in Madagascar is an ongoing issue and I wanted to raise awareness about this."
Nancy Rothwell Prize winner Kelly Wong with ‘The Flamingo’ from Harrow International School, Hong Kong.
Kelly said: “I’m shocked. I’m so grateful to be able to show my love for both art and biology through this competition. I chose the flamingo as I’ve always been intrigued by how they feed their young. This gave me the perfect opportunity to not just learn more about them but also to capture their beauty.”
Highly commended
The highly commended prize was awarded to Suraiya Chowdhury from St Albans Girls’ School, Hertfordshire, UK with ‘Bali Myna’ in the BioArtAttack 2D 15-18 category.
This year’s competition judging panel was comprised of Dr Grace Sim, Royal Veterinary College, Andrew Crook MBE FRSA, Royal Veterinary College, and Siobhan Brown, Horniman Museum and Gardens.
The RSB wishes to thank the Royal Veterinary College for its continued support of this award.
The RSB also thanks the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for providing a prize bundle this year to be awarded to the winners of the BioArtAttack competition 2025, marking the 50th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) coming into effect.
The winners will receive their awards during the RSB’s Awards Ceremony during Biology Week on Wednesday 15 October 2025 at The House of Commons, London.