Celebrating Cardiff’s success at the Institute of Medical Illustrators’ awards

Congratulations to Amy Lake, Programme Manager for the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Photography, who has won the Norman K. Harrison Medal at this year's Institute of Medical Illustration awards for an outstanding contribution to the Institute or profession.

The IMI is the leading UK professional body for photographers, videographers, graphic designers and medical artists working in healthcare.Last week the annual IMI conference brought together colleagues from the UK and overseas to share in two days of workshops, presentations and exhibitions, as well as celebrate success at the Institute's awards ceremony.

The Norman K. Harrison Medal is the Institute's most prestigious award, which is presented to an IMI member who has made an outstanding contribution to the Institute or profession. This year it was presented to Amy Lake, Programme Manager for the Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Photography in the School of Healthcare Sciences. 

Nicola Kelley, a 2014 graduate from the School of Healthcare Sciences' Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Illustration, was awarded the IMI's Peter Kilshaw Student Award for her photograph of a myxoid cyst. This award is presented to the best student entry in the Institute's awards scheme, which is based upon excellence in photography, video or design.Nicolaalso collected two bronze awards.

The ceremony also saw Craig Harper and Michael Taylor, current students on the Medical Illustration programme, both receive a Bronze award, and Paul Crompton (Director of the University's Media Resources Centre) win an award for outstanding contribution to the progress of biological communications. 

Other colleagues within the Media Resources Centre also celebrated success. Senior Photographer Chris Tetley received one of only a hand-full of gold award presented in the photography category, whilst Meg Pearson's image of viral warts was one of two chosen for the Wellcome Photography Award, with the image going on to be included in the Wellcome Images medical picture library. 

Silver awards were presented to artist Jan Sharp for her medical illustrations and to Nathan Edwards for dental photography. Bolette Jones, Head of Photography in the Media Resources Centre received a Bronze award for a joint submission with Amy Lake.

Previous students from the Postgraduate Certificate in Medical Illustration celebrated successes most notably Bård Kjersem received the Informa Healthcare Award for the best original article published in the Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine.

In addition to the awards, the medical illustration team from the University's College of Biomedical & Life Sciences contributed to to the conference programme:

• Amy Lake provided an overview to Cardiff University's new Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Photography. She also co-led a participant led workshop along with colleagues on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Visual Communication, for budding authors.
• Paul Crompton gave an update on theInstitute's discussion with the Department of Health's Modernising Scientific Careers scheme and the implications for the profession.
• Jan Sharp led a life drawing class, introducing participants to techniques required to draw a portrait.

2014 graduate, Maytyra Tiren, presented in the popular New Voices session, which gives speakers the opportunity to present at a national conference for first time. Maytyra's presentation was based on a project she completed as part of her postgraduate studies.

These awards pay tribute to the reputation of the medical illustration team within the wider profession, and highlights what a successful year the staff and students of the College of Biomedical & Life Sciences have had within the field of clinical photography and healthcare graphics.