UC Apiary Newsletter
A photograph of a honey bee sting captured by communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology has won the gold (first-place) feature-photo award in a contest sponsored by the international Association for Communication Excellence (ACE), comprised of communicators, educators and information technologists.
The Vacaville resident received the gold award for photography; the overall Outstanding Professional Skill Award for Photography (for the bee sting photo); and the gold award for best news writing on June 11 at ACE’s annual conference in Annapolis, Md.
The photo shows Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen being stung by a honey bee at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. She captured the image as the bee tried to pull away, tugging a trail of abdominal tissue.
Wrote Eric Mussen in his newest edition of from the UC apiaries, posted online: "This year the coup de grace was one of the world’s most appreciated photos – a honey bee trying to leave the scene after stinging me on the wrist. Usually, the break between the sting and abdomen is clean. Occasionally, intestinal tissue remains attached (as it did this time).”
“The judges are still trying to determine how she was able to arrange the lighting, the camera, the wrist and the bee to get that good a shot,” Mussen wrote. “That is our secret! The photo has been picked up and used in all sorts of ways. A person in Iraq even placed his own copyright on it!"
Garvey previously won four gold awards and an Outstanding Professional Skill Award for Writing from ACE.
