Sci-Comm
Overview
Participants submit an original piece of science communication and review other participants’ work to partake in the judging process.
Reviews for each submission will be made available to the respective submitter at the end of the event. Some of these communications may be archived for sharing broadly among the JBSPDF community at a later date (not part of the fest).
Participation and Judging Procedure
Only registrants for the Science Communications event will be sent a submission link by June 6, 2021. Submissions will be due June 12, 2021 11:59 pm IST.
Each submitter will be sent a link containing up to 4 science communication pieces for peer review by June 13, 2021. Reviews will be due June 19, 2021 11:59 pm IST.
Both, the science communication and the science review, need to be done for complete participation in this event.
Based on the peer review, the Judging Committee will select the top science communications and top science reviews which will be declared during the Prize Distribution Ceremony of the Science Fest.
Instructions
Each participant may submit 1 entry only on their topic of choice.
The submission should be a 3-4 minute communication presented for a broad scientific audience.
A 3-4 minute read (only text) means 400-500 words. Heading/title, figure captions/table captions/references (if any) will not be counted in the word limit.
The communication may or may not be based on text, i.e. primarily image-based communication is also acceptable. Please note in this mode also the total viewing time should not exceed 3-4 minutes.
Presenting to a broad scientific audience would mean minimizing technical jargon and/or using commonly termed alternatives. Here the target audience would be expected to have a typical 10+2 academic science background, without necessary specialization in the submitter’s respective field of education/expertise (undergraduate and beyond).
Overall presentation, including appropriate use and organization of images if needed and an engaging storytelling, should be an important aspect of the communication.
The communication in its 3-4 minute read should deliver a “complete message” by itself. References may be used as support, but not to substitute for the main content of the communication.
The communication should be original, i.e. even if based on single or multiple sources, the final product should have sufficient individualism incorporated. A word-for-word copy from references will not be accepted except for short excerpts (which need to be aptly indicated such as with quotation marks).
Each science communication should be submitted in the form of a PDF.
Any text/image editor software (such as Word, LaTeX, PowerPoint, Paint, Photoshop, Notion, etc.) may be used to create the document, and then converted to PDF.
The document should be saved as “<Title>.pdf”. For example, "Time Travelling - Is it really possible?.pdf". An appropriate title should be succinct and appropriately capture the essence of the communication in few words.
The submitter’s identity (name and/or JBNSTS batch) should NOT be directly mentioned/evident in the filename or anywhere in the submission document. The review process will be a double-blind review (the submitter or the reviewer’s identity will not be available to the other to prevent any bias).
Metrics for Reviewing and Judging
Original content/material, including appropriate title, relevant images, references, etc. (30%)
Storytelling, for a 3-4 minute read with a complete message to a broad audience (30%)
Presentation, including organization of content and aesthetics (30%)
Technical aspects, including proper grammar, punctuation, etc. (10%)