Submissions open for Little Pictures of Climate Competition 2023

The competition winner will have a unique opportunity to present their data visualisation at the United Nations COP28 climate conference, set to take place in the United Arab Emirates later this year [31 Nov – 12 Dec].

Help them to transform decades of satellite climate data to compelling, impactful “Little Pictures” that spark awareness and drive action.

Submit your own data-driven Little Picture and get the chance to display it at the UN COP28 climate conference. They’ll also invite you to an “expenses paid” VIP tour of the ESA data-visualisation suite at the ESRIN Facility, Frascati, Italy.

What climate data you can use?

• The aim of this competition is to create a visualisation with a clear climate message (that for example illustrates climate trends, variability over seasonal, annual or decadal scale), using data and information available from ESA, ECMWF and EUMETSAT.
• For your Little Picture they require that you use data provided from the following sources:
  • European Space Agency’s (ESA) Climate Change Initiative Climate Data Facility (selected datasets are also available in an easy-to-use format CSV on the Little Pictures github repository).
  • European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the C3S Climate Data Store.
  • European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ (EUMETSAT) data store.

Prize Information

• The winner will:
  • have their Little Picture displayed on ESA’s booth at the UN COP28 climate conference in the UAE (30 Nov-12 Dec) to help raise awareness of climate change and the role of satellites in strengthening scientific understanding and to address climate change;
  • be invited to take an expenses-paid VIP tour (up to 2,000 euro) of ESA’s Earth observation data-visualisation suite – the phi experience – located at ESA’s ESRIN facility Frascati, Italy (they encourage the winner to opt for the most sustainable way of getting to ESRIN);
  • have their Little Picture entry added to our online Little Pictures gallery, along with our judging panel’s commendation.
• Ten runners up will:
  • have their Little Picture entry added to our online Little Pictures gallery, along with our judging panel’s commendation.

Eligibility Criteria

• One entry per person.
• You must be over 18 to enter (family/group entries are allowed but the person posting the entry must be over 18, and the top prize is only valid for adults over 18).
• Entries should take the form of a data-driven image (accepted file types include: doc, jpeg, jpg, pdf, png, tif, heic) of less than 2Mb, or a URL to a hosted data visualisation, a short title and a brief description of the Little Picture including the message that is being conveyed, the data used data and the method(s) adopted to create the Little Picture. Sources should be also cited.
• Only adults over 18 can be in any images/videos used. Anyone in the image/video must have given their consent.
• The Competition is only open to individuals with a residence in a Member State, Associate Member or Cooperating State of the European Space Agency, or European Centre for Medium Range Forecasting (ECMWF), EUMETSAT or the European Union except for:
  • staff of ESA, ECMWF, EUMETSAT suppliers, contractors; and members of the immediate families or households.
• The Member States, Associate Members and Cooperating States of the European Space Agency are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Slovakia.
• Prizes are non-negotiable. There is no cash or other alternative prize for either the runners up or overall winner.

Judging Criteria

• The judging panel will consider the following criteria when reviewing and shortlisting submissions:
  • Clarity of Message: Does the Little Picture have a clear message that uses climate data from ESA, ECMWF and/or EUMETSAT to create an impactful visual (40% weighting).
  • Design Aesthetic: Is the Little Picture beautiful, celebrating aesthetic design? (30% weighting).
  • Novelty & Innovation: Is the Little Picture innovative and creative, celebrating novel formats and design approaches? (20% weighting).
  • Accessibility: Does the Little Picture make use of inclusive design decisions to aid accessibility, and consider equity in the representation of different people or groups? (10% weighting).

For more information, visit ESA.