Essay competition challenges students to start scribbling about science

This year's Science Challege is launched by the Royal College of Science Union - News

Imperial instigated its annual search for science writing talent among its students and school pupils this week, with the launch of this year’s Science Challenge competition.

 The arrival of Science Challenge 2012 was heralded by a reception attended by some of the judges, including the College’s Professor of Science and Society Lord Robert Winston and the BBC Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh, an Imperial alumnus.

 The competition, organised by the Royal College of Science Union, aims to promote scientific communication and creative thinking with categories open for both Imperial students and school pupils. The entrants have a choice of four questions to tackle, set by the judges, and winners will be announced at a reception to be held at the House of Lords in the summer.

 The prizes on offer include £2000 for the College winner, and £500 for the schools winner, with both also receiving a tour of the CERN facility in Switzerland. As well as the overall awards there will also be prizes in each of the question categories. 

One of the organisers, undergraduate Paul Beaumont from the Department of Mathematics, said:

 “This science essay competition values the importance of communicating science to the public - a skill that is crucial in a modern world, where scientists must appease the public for support, financially and ethically.”

Judges with Professor Maggie Dallman and Paul Beaumont at the launch

Alongside the judges listed above, Mark Henderson, the former Science Editor of the Times and current Head of Communications at the Wellcome Trust will be adjudicating together with  Peter Lacey, a Managing Director in Sustainability Services at Accenture.  They will read the top five essays for both College and school categories, as selected by a panel of PhD markers with expertise in the question areas. 

For last year’s student winner, Andrew Purcell from the Department of Humanities, the competition was an opportunity to commit to paper his perspective on UK science funding:

 “I  was involved in the Science is Vital campaign and saw the essay question about the Higgs boson as a great chance to make the case for state funding of fundamental scientific research - CERN really has to be the poster-child for this! I simply felt that making this argument coherently in writing would be a nice change from me simply ranting about it to my mates in the pub.”

Andrew’s full essay can be read here, and the full list of 2011 winners, together with their essays, is available here:

Science Challenge 2012 has been supported by Imperial’s Faculty of Natural Sciences and Accenture.

For more information on the competition, its prizes and how to enter see:  http://rcsu.org.uk/sciencechallenge/