Name: Science-me a Story (2021)
Category: Short story or narrative poetry
Word count: 400 to 1700 words for short story, 170 to 1000 words for narrative poetry
Entry fee: Free
Prize: £200 for 1st prize winner, £150 for 2nd prize winner and £100 for 3rd prize winner
Closing date: April 18, 2021
Science-me a Story is a writing competition that was born in 2018 with the aim of promoting scientific outreach in a fun and engaging way appropriate for primary school children. The ultimate goal of the contest is to promote the scientific spirit and inspire the next generation that will later build our future. The organisers hope to achieve this through the communication of scientific achievements, findings, methods, and anecdotes in the form of short stories.
Submission guidelines:
- The competition is open to any adult (aged 18 years and older), irrespective of their nationality or country of residence as long as the stories, presented in Spanish or English, are original and unpublished by any media (including Internet). Therefore, the manuscript should not have been awarded or been pending on deliberation in a previous contest. The breach of this clause automatically disqualifies the participant.
- Each author/s, coauthors are accepted as well, may present a singular and different story by category:
- Short story in Spanish.
- Short story in English.
- The submitted manuscript should comply with the following criteria:
- The story, real or fictional, must be conceived from the objective of scientific dissemination to primary school children (aged 6 to 12 years) through the use of the narrative technique, as prose or poem. The topic should be related to science, the scientific method, the research process and scientific discovery, everyday life of a scientist, and others alike.
- The manuscript must be written in correct Spanish or English, according to the selected category.
- A single original copy of the manuscript will be submitted in pdf format, written entirely using Arial font, size 12 and 1.5 line spacing throughout (including title).
- The extent of the manuscript will be as follow:
- prose: 400 to 1700 words
- poems: 170 to 1000 words
- Manuscripts can’t contain images.
The entries must be sent via email to [email protected]. The email will only include the contestant’s name, nationality, email address and telephone number (including the country’s telephone code) together with the competition category selected. Importantly, a PDF file, named by the title of the manuscript, should be attached to the email, containing only the story. No personal information, signature or identification of the contestant will be allowed in the PDF file of the story.
The manuscripts will be evaluated by the appropriateness to the theme, the literary quality, originality, structure and coherence of the narrative, as well as style, creativity and imagination. The decision of the judging panel will be disclosed through the SRUK/CERU webpage and other online media by early June, and it will be communicated to the winners via email or phone call.
The awards for each category will include a winner prize (£200) and two runners-up prizes (£150 and £100). The awarded stories will be published in the online magazine PRINCIPIA (stories in Spanish, https://principia.io/) and in the literature hub at the University of Liverpool (stories in English, https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/literature-and-science/blog/events/scistory/).
The Society of Spanish Researcher in the UK (SRUK) will keep the rights of publication and assignment of the award-winning stories and finalists. The society of Spanish Researcher in UK (SRUK) will keep, exempt from any payment in favour of the authors, the right of use of the award-winning stories and finalists in future activities and events of science outreach promoted by this society. By participating in this competition, the contestants agree to comply with all the aforementioned rules.
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