Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award

Overview of Award | Application Process | Recipients

Overview of Award

BINA is pleased to announce the inaugural Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award in recognition of early career scientists- graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, recent graduates, and emerging professionals within 6 years of post terminal degree, in the bioimaging and bioimage analysis sectors.

Mary Ann Booth (1843–1922)  is considered to be America’s first professional female microscopist. Over the course of nearly fifty years, she built and sustained a thriving business preparing and selling microscope slides across a wide range of subjects, with a particular focus on parasitology. Beyond her commercial work, Booth shaped the field through writing and editorial roles at two prominent monthly publications — The Observer & Practical Microscopy and the American Monthly Journal of Microscopy — while also taking her expertise on the road, delivering lectures on photomicrography to audiences throughout the eastern United States and southeastern Canada.

In addition to recognizing early-career leaders through MABECA, BINA also honors members who exemplify leadership, community engagement, and contributions to the bioimaging field through the Michael W. Davidson Memorial Award. Named in honor of pioneering microscopist Michael W. Davidson, this award celebrates established members who demonstrate exceptional commitment to Engagement, Education, Mentorship, and Standardization. The award highlights individuals whose work strengthens the BINA community and advances the field of bioimaging through leadership, collaboration, and impactful contributions. Learn more about the Michael W. Davidson Memorial Award

Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award benefits include:

• Travel, food, and accommodation expenses covered for attendance at the BINA Community Congress
• Recognition and award receipt at the meeting
• Presentation on awardee’s winning-work during the Community Congress program
• Invitation to the “Leadership Reception”
• Awardee’s details (name, affiliation, year awarded) listed as recipients on the Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award webpage
• $250 cash award

Application process

Award Eligibility

• This award is open to BINA members residing in North America (Canada, Mexico, United States and its territories),
• Who are no more than 6 years post terminal degree (B.A./B.S., M.A. or Ph.D).
• Candidates can self-nominate or be nominated by a BINA community member.
• Nominees & nominators should be current BINA members by the time of submission
• Current BINA Executive Board members (excluding interns), Corporate BINA members and Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award Committee members are not eligible for the award.
• Individuals who have previously received the Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award are not eligible for the award.
• If applying to multiple BINA Awards, candidates are only eligible to win ONE award per calendar year

Note: All nominations are retained for 3 years on a rolling basis, with a cap of 6 years post terminal degree. If a nomination was previously submitted but not selected, it is eligible for 2 more years-no new application is needed, although revisions and updates are encouraged!

Nominators and Nominees must be members of BINA by the noon Pacific time May 1st, 2026 deadline

Award Details

• Complete submission deadline: Noon PT, May 1, 2026
• Notification of outcome: No later than June 16, 2026
• All materials must be submitted by the deadline; late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

Nominees should demonstrate significant contributions in only TWO (2) of the following areas.

1. Alignment with mission and core values of BINA
   1. Community – building collaboration and partnership to achieve shared goals
   2. Inclusion – fostering a welcoming and diverse environment to encourage participation and individual contributions
   3. Excellence – working with rigor and integrity to ensure reproducible and quantitative data
2.  Embody the characteristics of Mary Ann Booth, including creativity and commitment to the advancement and improvement of the practice of bioimaging
3. Contribution, engagement and impact in the BINA community
4. Scientific excellence and creativity in bioimaging

Items for submission:

• A completed nomination form

• A cover letter from the nominee (1 pg max) on why they merit the Mary Ann Booth Early Career Award, addressing two (2) of the contribution areas described above: Alignment with BINA core values & mission, Embodiment of the characteristics of Mary Ann Booth, contribution, engagement and impact in the BINA community, & Scientific excellence and creativity in bioimaging. Nominees are not required to demonstrate contributions in all areas.**

• A letter of support from a member of the community (the nominee’s supervisor, a prominent collaborator etc) using the following template
• One additional letter of support from a community member(s) impacted by the work of the nominee using the following template
  • At least one letter of support must be from a current BINA member
  • Letters can be supported by multiple people

** letter not required if self nominating

All nomination materials must be uploaded to the nomination form no later than Noon, PT, May 1, 2026

We recommend the nominating member notify the nominee and consider submitting the application together in order to best capture the nominee’s community contributions.

Successful applicants must be members of BINA by the noon Pacific time May 1st, 2026 deadline and are required to attend the awards session at the Community Congress to accept their prize and present their community work.*

Please contact contact@bioimagingna.org if there are any questions regarding the application process.

* Consideration will be given if the award winner has exceptional circumstances that prohibit them from attending the Community Congress in person.

Review Process

The Review Committee will evaluate applications in the weeks after the submission deadline, using the evaluation criteria summarized in this document.

All nominees will be notified of the outcome no later than June 16, 2026.

After the congress all nominees will be featured on our webpage.