ACPA is hosting a Student Research Video competition and is inviting both graduate and undergraduate students to participate. This event will provide motivation, encouragement, and most of all, recognition to Professional Chemists of the future.


Who can participate?

  • The competition is open to full-time students at the time of submission for experimental, innovation, or study work recently performed while enrolled in an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degree in a chemistry program accredited by the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC).
  • To be eligible, the applicant must be registered at a university in the province of Alberta.
  • If you are a first-semester graduate student, you may still present work that you did as an undergraduate student. Non-compliant submissions will be rejected.
  • Submissions from both individuals and teams are accepted (One award per group submission).
  • Postdocs are not considered students.
  • Poster topics may be related to any facet of chemical sciences.

Why should you participate?

  • If you are looking for an industrial job, this is also a great addition to your resume, demonstrating that you have been active beyond the classroom.

Competition Rules

The video must include the following:

  • Title
  • Names of author(s) and affiliated organization(s)
  • Abstract (brief summary of objectives, methods, results, and conclusions)
  • Background Information
  • Project Objectives: demonstrate the problem that you are solving
  • Materials and Methods
  • Results (tables, graphs, charts)
  • Conclusions
  • Discussion of possible future directions or why the project is complete.

Length and Format

  • Your video should be a minimum of 2 minutes and a maximum of three minutes long and be the standard MP4 file.
  • Videos should either be in English or contain accurate English subtitles.

Submission

The application form and supporting material (application form, copy of your student ID, MP4 file, or a link to it) must be submitted via the online submission form below, no later than Friday, April 16, 2021.

Submit Entry


Judging and Awards

  • Each poster will be judged by a panel of typically 3 or 4 ACPA professional members.
  • Winners will be announced at the 2021 ACPA annual general meeting (AGM).
  • 1st Place: CAD$200 Amazon Gift Card
  • 2nd Place: CAD$100 Amazon Gift Card

Terms & Conditions

Filming Others

Always get expressed permission from anyone who will appear in your video, in its original form as submitted, and in any (derivative) form the organizers may later make. No images of children under 18 can be included.


Right to Refuse Submissions

The organizers maintain the right to refuse submissions that do not follow the rules of the contest. No offensive or sensitive content is tolerated, that includes religious or anti/religious, racial, political, obscene, violent, or pornographic content.


Only Your Work

You may only submit films that you have worked on yourself. The use of others’ work without permission will automatically disqualify a submission.


Don’t Do Something Illegal or Film Something Illegal

Do not film any criminal or other illegal activity or provoke others to do something illegal on your film.


Waiver

By participating in this video contest, you agree that the organizers will have no liability whatsoever (jointly and severally) for, and will be held harmless by the entrant team (jointly and severally) for any liability, for any bodily injury, violation of personality, or personal data, loss, cost or damages of any kind to persons, including death and property, damages sustained due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from your creation, use, or intended use of your entry, participation in this Contest, and the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the prize.

This contest and these official rules shall be exclusively governed by the substantive laws of Alberta, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions.


The videos will be reviewed by the ACPA solely for the purpose of judging the competition. The judging committee will not utilize any of the intellectual property for their own benefit. The video will not be disseminated in any way without the written consent of the authors, such as posting the winning videos on the ACPA website.


Disputes

Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of, or in relation to, this contract, including the validity, invalidity, breach, or termination thereof, shall be resolved by arbitration in accordance with the laws of Alberta in force on the date on which the notice of arbitration is submitted in accordance with these rules. The number of arbitrators shall be one. The seat of the arbitration shall be Edmonton, Alberta.

By entering the Contest, you hereby represent and warrant that you have read these rules and are fully familiar with its contents.


Tips and Tricks

  • An effective video: 
    • Delivers a clear message
    • Concentrates on main points
    • All visuals and vocals should relate to those points and conclusions.
    • Is highly visual
  • Many presentations suffer from easy-to-fix problems that make them ineffective, including: 
    • Objective(s) and main point(s) hard to find
    • Text too small
    • Volume too low
    • Poor graphics
    • Poor organization
  • Some useful tips for visual layout if you are showing a poster: 
    • Headings help readers find key sections - objectives, results, etc.
    • Balance the placement of text and graphics
    • Display word sections in small units (chunks) of text
    • Use white space creatively to define the flow of information.
    • Don't fight "reader gravity" that pulls the eye from top to bottom, left to right
    • Bulleted lists are very effective
    • Sometimes a question-and-answer format may be appropriate for part of the poster
    • Include contact details for follow-up with readers

Questions?

Contact:

The ACPA Student Video Contest
 Association of the Chemical Profession of Alberta
 202, 5405 99 Street NW
 Edmonton, AB, T6E 3N8
 [email protected]