Call for Nominations: 2nd ERCOFTAC Milton Van Dyke Flow Visualization Competition 2026

1​st February 2026 Deadline for submission of the contributions.

Inspired by the legendary “Album of Fluid Motion” by Prof. Van Dyke (Stanford University), ERCOFTAC will award from 2025 onward the Milton Van Dyke prize for the most inspiring, thought-provoking or simply most beautiful flow visualization (image or animation, from experiments or simulation) generated during research in fundamental or applied fluid dynamics. This competition is open to the ERCOFTAC members.

The criterion is the aesthetics of the visualization.

The final will take place on the 16th April 2026 during the ERCOFTAC Spring Festival, on 16^th – 17^th April in Pisa, Italy.

Eligibility: Candidates of any seniority or entire research groups that are affiliated with ERCOFTAC, either through an institutional or an individual membership. Only one contribution per main author is accepted.

Contributions need to be sent to mvandyke@cado-ercoftac.org. Next to the visualization, in high resolution and in a web-page ready format, a summary needs to be provided, which should include:

• Title, name and affiliation of all authors, and email and telephone of the main author
• A caption of maximum 5 lines providing a clear and short description including links to references.
• A scientific abstract of maximum 1 page describing the associated research, the context / stage of the research the visualization was obtained, and what was learnt from it.
• A list of selected recent publications related to the research (maximum 3, not older than 5 years).

Although the aesthetics is the main criterion for evaluation, also the elements of the summary will be evaluated during the initial selection.

Selection: Candidates should send their visualization either in vector format or in resolution of at least 2000 pixels in the largest dimension, preferably in a format commonly supported by web sites, together with a summary, to their pilot center representative. The latter will centralize the contributions and send them to ERCOFTAC. In case of submission of a video, the duration should stay within a maximum of 30 seconds.

The contributions will be evaluated first by a panel of international experts selected by the ERCOFTAC Knowledge Network Committee (KNC), resulting in a shortlist of five finalists that will present the visualization on the 16th of April at the Spring Festival in Pisa.

The winner will be chosen by a combination of a jury vote and a popular vote through the ERCOFTAC social media channel, which both will rank the finalist contributions.

Information: can be obtained via mail at mvandyke@cado-ercoftac.org, the PC coordinators, or by following our updates on LinkedIn profile (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ercoftac)

Finalists: The finalists will receive a certificate and have their visualization published on the ERCOFTAC web site. The winning contribution will also receive a cash prize of 1000 Euro. The contributions which make it to the final should be presented in person by the main author at the Spring Festival.

Runners up: the 10 runners up will be presented on socials in the weeks running up to the festival and later on the web site. The main authors will be invited to give a 2 minute online presentation during the final.

Financial Support: Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by the main authors of the finalist will be reimbursed by ERCOFTAC. Prior to participation, the finalists are expected to present travel plans to ERCOFTAC for approval.

Key Dates:

• 1​st February 2026 - Deadline for submission to ERCOFTAC
• 1​st March 2026 - Decision on the group of finalists and notification
• 9​th - 15th April 2026 - Popular vote on social media
• 1​6th April 2026 - Final at the ERCOFTAC Spring Festival

The final is organized at the occasion of the yearly ERCOFTAC Spring Festival, on 16th – 17th April 2026 in Pisa, Italy.

P​lease contact your PC Coordinator for more details.

ERCOFTAC - Pilot Centres