Scientific Story Contest 2022/ How To Submit (Prize: £450 + Publication)
The scientific story contest aims at writers who write specifically for children
This competition was created by the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (SRUK/CERU) 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 scientific spirit and inspire the generations that will build our future. The organizers hope to achieve this through the communication of scientific achievements, findings, methods, and anecdotes in the form of short stories.
Eligibility for the Scientific Story Contest
- The competition is open to writers aged 18 and above.
- There is no restriction based on nationality or country of residence as long as the stories, either presented in Spanish or English, are original and unpublished by any media (including social media).
- 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.
Submission Guidelines
- Applicants should present a singular and different story by category : A) Short story in Spanish. B) 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, etc.
- The science behind the stories must be verified -based on scientific evidence-, either published papers or as a result of own rigorous and validated experiments.
- 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 word limits of the manuscript will be as follow:
prose: 400 to 1700 words,
poems: 170 to 1000 words. - Manuscripts cannot contain images.
- Entries must be sent via email to relatosciencia@sruk.org.uk.
- The email must only include the contestant’s name, nationality, email address and telephone number (including the country’s telephone code), the story title and the category selected.
- The email subject must be the story title. Importantly, a PDF file, with the same name as the title of the manuscript, must be attached to the email and must contain only the story.
- The PDF file must not contain personal information, signature or any other identification of the contestant.
- The submission deadline is 23:59 pm London UK time on the 24th April 2022.
Prize
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.