European Crystallography Video Contest

The European Crystallography Video Contest is open to all schoolchildren from European countries. Its goal is to introduce young students to the exciting and challenging world of Crystal Growing and Crystallography.

This contest is organized by GIG-03 (Education in Crystallography General Interest Group) from the European Crystallographic Association (ECA), sponsored by the ECA and supported by the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) with a CCDC Engagement Grant.

How can we participate?

It is very easy to take part in this contest: you only need to make a short video, sharing your experience growing crystals.

This video should display the experimental work that you have carried out. You can be as creative as you like, but do not forget to be rigorous!

If you cannot speak good English, use your own language, but English subtitles are compulsory.

At the end of the video, the names and ages of the participants in the project must be included.

Important dates

Closing date for submissions: 31st May 2024
Notification of winners: 15th June 2024

We have our video ready! How can we submit it?

If you have finished your video, just fill in this submission form. We will contact you and send the instructions to upload the video.

Rules

The competition is open to students of primary or secondary schools; maximum age 18.
Duration of the video: no longer than three minutes.
Format: mpeg, avi or mov.
Language: mother language of the participants or English. English subtitles are compulsory.
A maximum of two entries per category per school is permitted.
The judging panel will be nominated by the ECA. The decision of the judging panel is final.
When underage students are displayed in the videos, the school must obtain the corresponding authorizations from parents or tutors.
The videos cannot include any content (images, music, etc.) that is protected by copyright. It is strongly recommended that only original material is used.
The organization will exclude any videos that fail to comply with these rules, as well as the ones that could be considered offensive or inappropriate.
In case the quality of the videos presented in any of the categories is not sufficient to merit an award, the funds allocated for these prizes will be awarded in the other categories.
All entries must be accompanied by a letter of endorsement. This letter should be written and signed by a supervisor/teacher of the school. It should declare that you have permission to enter this contest, own the copyright of the material submitted, and that you allow the organizers to use the videos for dissemination purposes.

Prizes

The two winning contributions in each category will receive ‘Young Crystallographer’ certificates for all of the participants and a beautiful mineral specimen for the school. The videos will be also presented at the 34th European Crystallographic Meeting.

Criteria for evaluation

A panel of judges will evaluate the entries. Six criteria will be used: creativity; aesthetic value; description of working plan and experimental work; clarity of explanations; scientific background; and safety measures.