The BENHS Annual Exhibition 2026

The BENHS Annual Exhibition 2026 is a free, inclusive entomology gathering in central London, combining member displays, specialist networking, book sales, awards, and exhibit prizes.

Event essentials

• Date and time: Saturday 7 November 2026, 11:00am–4:00pm.
• Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL; about a five-minute walk from Holborn Underground station.
• Who can attend: BENHS members, affiliated societies, new and student members, long-standing members who have not attended before, and non-members.
• Facilities: On-site café serving light refreshments and sandwich lunches.

What the exhibition offers

• Visitors can view insect voucher specimens, photographs, posters, and other entomological material, while meeting enthusiasts and specialists across experience levels.
• Affiliated interests include flies, beetles, plant galls, spiders, myriapods, woodlice, bees, wasps, ants, and earthworms.
• Pemberley Books, Atropos Books, the BENHS stall, and the Amateur Entomologists’ Society will attend; BENHS publications will be available at member-discounted prices.
• The Marsh Awards for Entomology 2025 will be presented at 1:00pm.

Exhibits and contributor guidance

• Members are encouraged to bring exhibits of any size, including preserved specimens, photographs, study posters, equipment, artwork, literature, trivia, and appropriate live invertebrates.
• Suggested display categories include British butterflies; macro- and micro-moths; foreign Lepidoptera; Coleoptera; Diptera; Hemiptera; Hymenoptera; other orders; and unidentified specimens.
• A dedicated unidentified-specimens table will be available; members may offer identification help, though identification is not guaranteed.
• Exhibitors must register on arrival and provide descriptive notes. For specimens, notes should include significance, locality and county, date in the format 22.iii.2021, capture method, and, where possible, grid reference and vice-county.
• Use current scientific names, family and authority; include food-plant names where relevant. British Lepidoptera should also include the current 2024 checklist number.

Conservation standards and recognition

• Long series of threatened, scarce, reintroduced, or single-locality insects are not accepted unless an approved scientific justification has been provided in advance. Material connected with commercial insect trade is also excluded.
• BENHS experts may select exhibits for photography and publication in the Journal of British Entomology & Natural History.
• Organisers will award book-token prizes for the best specimen, photograph, and poster displays.

The event is positioned as both a social and professional-development opportunity for anyone interested in entomology, from newcomers to specialists.

 For more information:

https://www.benhs.org.uk/event/annual-exhibition-2026/