Science Communication Prize

Each year, we look to identify and celebrate outstanding science communicators with an annual Science Communication Prize. We invite students to submit a written or media entry, which discusses a topic in the biosciences, aimed at the general public.

The competition

The Science Communication Prize welcomes entries in two categories: one for written pieces and one for pieces in a media format (e.g. video or audio).

Entries must be bioscience themed and aimed at the general public, with entries welcomed from two educational stage groups:

A-level/T-level/BTEC National/Scottish Highers or equivalent students.
BTEC Higher National, foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Entrants who have graduated in the same year in which their entry is made can still enter and the educational stage of entrants will be taken into consideration when judging submissions (see full entry criteria below).

Winners are selected for both categories (written and media), with prizes awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for each educational group.

1st prize winner receives £300
2nd prize winner receives £200
3rd prize winner receives £100

Winning entries in the written category will be published in the Society’s magazine, The Biochemist, and both written and media entries will be published on the Society’s website.

Take a look at last year's winners below for inspiration!

Please note: winning entrants who are under 18 must have consent from a parent or guardian for their work to be published.

Criteria and guidance

General

You must be in the specified educational stages to enter the competition:

1. 1. A-level/T-level/BTEC National/Scottish Highers or equivalent
  2. BTEC Higher National, foundation, undergraduate or postgraduate

Entrants who have graduated in the same year in which their entry is made can enter the competition.
The competition is open to students from all over the UK and overseas.
The entry must be on a molecular bioscience topic (specified on your entry form).
The entry should be targeted to the general public.
The entry must be scientifically accurate.
The entry must clearly explain scientific subjects.
The entry must be creative, engaging and have a strong narrative.
Entrants can submit a maximum of one entry per category, written and media, but cannot be awarded a prize in both categories.

Written entries

In addition to the general guidance, written entries should:

Comprise original work of up to 1,500 words.
Demonstrate a high level of spelling and grammar.
Include any relevant references as a 'further reading' section, which should be beneficial to readers interested in knowing more about the topic.
Not include any copyrighted content (e.g. copyrighted images).

The inclusion of self-produced images is strongly encouraged. Images can be a valuable tool to effectively communicate scientific concepts.

Guidance on producing images and creating a 'further reading' list can be found here.

Media entries

In addition to the general guidance, media entries should:

Be 2-5 minutes long.
Not include any copyrighted content (e.g. music).

Use of sophisticated film and/or audio recording equipment is not required to enter this competition; for example, a phone camera could be used. The key points that the entries will be judged on is how well the science is presented/described and not the technical quality of the filming.

Video and audio pieces can be entered by teams, with one person named as the lead entrant. Prizes will be shared by the team. The lead entrant must enter all names and contact details of the team members during the application process.

2022 Winners: Media category

Still image from the video showing toilet roll with the words 'Rolling out vaccines' in green

Still from the video with the text 'How Covid-19 spiked the interest for structural biology'

Still from the video depicting an image of a girl with the words 'every cell in your body contains protein'

Rosanna Culver, winner of the Science Communication Prize video category 2022 — Rosanna Culver
Biomedical Sciences undergraduate student

2022 Winners: Written category

Microorganism being investigated by a scientist

“

Participating in this competition was a great opportunity to put my science communication skills to the test while writing about a topic that I find incredibly fascinating. I chose to write about predatory bacteria as I believe they’re both academically interesting due to their therapeutic potential, and conceptually intriguing due to their unique lifestyle.
“