e-Competition: your Research your Story!

As a student, the ability to create a succinct yet compelling narrative about your work is an invaluable skill. By effectively translating complex/technical research into accessible language, you can better inform, educate, and inspire your audience. Especially in these uncertain times of COVID-19 where there is not much opportunity to talk about your research face-to-face. Sharing your research story through blogs and social media  is a creative way to keep colleagues, friends, family and the general audience informed about your research.

Whether it is at a virtual event, professional conference, a graduate/professional school interview, a casual dinner with friends or any situation in between, being able to share your research as an interactive story that peaks the audience interest is a skill every student must have!  

To further encourage students to share their research story, YPARD in collaboration with AGRINATURA have developed a friendly Research Story e-Competition entitled ‘your Research your Story!’ This event is meant to help students to have a better sense of ownership of their research and to communicate the most important parts of their research in a creative easy to read storytelling way.

Participants will compete through blog submissions. The goal of this competition is to effectively communicate one's work/idea/story through a short, one-page blog. Participants are allotted one A4 page (500 words) to share a compelling story about their research and its significance in a language appropriate to a non-specialized audience.?  All Bachelor, Masters and PhD. students affiliated with any European university involved in agricultural research and development or creative work in any field of agriculture and food systems are encouraged to compete for prizes!

Instructions for submission:

To take part in this competition you need to do the following:

1.  The competition is open to all BSc, MSc. or PhD affiliated with any European university from any European country.
2. The entry should be submitted as an essay written in a storytelling style in PDF format.
3. The entry should be a maximum of 500 words (approximately one A4 page).
4. At the top of the document, you must include a headline, your name, email address and indicate the category of your submission (BSc, MSc. or PhD).
5. In addition to the PDF, at least one high-quality picture or graphical abstract in JPEG format with at least 300dpi should also be submitted.
6. The story should have a headline, introduction, body and conclusion/final message/thought/expected impact of your research or creative work in agriculture.
7. The submission (PDF & a picture or graphical abstract) should be sent via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with cc to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please indicate in the subject of the email the title ‘YPARD/AGRINATURA e-Competition’. 
8. Please note that incomplete stories and those not following the Instructions for submissions will not be accepted. 

The competition will be divided into 3 categories: BSc. MSc & PhD. The top five stories from each category will be selected, the author of these stories will receive prizes and certificates. 

Prizes

• A certificate from YPARD  for outstanding writing skills
• A certificate from AGRINATURA for outstanding writing skills
• A feature on the YPARD and AGRINATURA website
• A feature on the YPARD Europe newsletter 
• Global exposure on the YPARD and AGRINATURA social media channels reaching an online community of over 30,000 members (teachers, researchers and the wider scientific  community)!
• A coveted YPARD/AGRINATURA gift bag 

Application Deadline:

• All participants are encouraged to submit their story by March 31st, 2021
• The winners of each category will be announced on the YPARD/AGRINATURA website by April 16th, 2021

The competition is open to all BSc. MSc & PhD students working in any field of agricultural research and development!

Picture credit: YPARD Europe