Optical Interferometry Imaging Contest IX

Image reconstruction in optical interferometry has become an important asset for astrophysical studies during the last decades. This has been mainly due to improvements in the imaging capabilities of existing interferometers such as the second generation of beam combiners at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer; or the expected facilities like the Sparse Aperture Masking mode of the James Webb Space Telescope. Since 2004, the community has organized a biennial contest to formally test the different methods and algorithms for image reconstruction. In 2022, we celebrated the 9th edition of the "Optical Interferometry Imaging Contest". This initiative represents an open call for the different scientific groups to present their advances in the field of interferometric image reconstruction with sparse infrared arrays. This contest represents a unique opportunity to benchmark, in a systematic way, the current advances and limitations in the field, as well as to discuss possible future approaches. In this work, we summarize: (a) the rules of the 2022 contest; (b) the different data sets used and the selection procedure; (c) the methods and results obtained by each one of the participants; and (d) the metrics used to select the best reconstructed images. Finally, we named John Young as winner of this edition of the contest and Jacques Kluska as winner of an honorific mention for his participation in the contest.