Thought I would gently ease myself back into things after almost a month’s total social media detox at work by posting this news story from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) announcing the winners of #LetsGetDigital…..

The votes have been counted, the judges have had their say and the winners of the 2017 NIHR Let’s Get Digital competition have been decided!

The 25 shortlisted entries, across the five competition categories have been reviewed by expert judging panels and subject to a public vote through, which 2,251 people had their say. We can now announce that this year’s winners are:

• Photo – Bob Philips
• Video –  Involving carers in mental health planning
• Infographic – Living with sickle cell disease
• Online community – Bash the Bug
• Website – www.researchforthefuture.org

Simon Denegri, NIHR National Director for Patients and the Public said:

“Congratulations to all the winners – the calibre of competition entries was extremely high so it wasn’t an easy judging process.

“It’s been great to see such a diverse range of entries to the competition and we hope to see this continue next year. It’s also been a pleasure to see so many people engaging with the entries through the public voting process, and we hope this encourages researchers to continue ‘getting digital’ with their research.

“It is this vitality and creativity across our community that will be so important to the NIHR delivering on its digital strategy in the coming months and years.”

The competition, which was brand new for this year, aimed to promote and recognise the ways people who are funded and supported by the NIHR can ‘get digital’ with their research, whilst raising awareness of research at the same time.

The 165 entries to the competition, and 2,251 public votes demonstrates the value of digital when it comes to engaging with research.

It is great to see the winners out there and I hope people will continue to support the  campaign by promoting the winning entries. They are excellent  examples of how to make research accessible in innovative, digital formats. All the shortlisted and winning entries can be found here.

…Why the detox I hear you ask? Well, as the saying goes, you can sometimes have too much of a good thing.