Over 1400 students in Spain have joined a CERN contest to explain how science and technology can make the world better.
This contest was launched after CERN received the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, along with Peter Higgs and François Englert. The challenge was for Spanish students aged 6 to 18 to explain their perceptions of science and technology, and how these could benefit the world.
A jury of Spanish researchers at CERN and the National Centre for Particle, Astroparticle and Nuclear Physics (CPAN) in Spain has now selected the best pictures and videos, and you can vote for your favourite online up until 28 February. The prize for the winning student is a trip to CERN.
The competition was launched by CERN, in collaboration with the Prince of Asturias Foundation and CPAN, early last December through CERNLand, a CERN website for kids. The period to submit work, texts or images ended 31 January. At this time, there have been more than 1400 entries from schools in 48 Spanish provinces. More than 400 teachers in primary and secondary education have encouraged their students to participate in the competition.
The jury has selected 50 images (which includes photos, drawings and videos) from the three age groups (elementary, middle and high school), you can vote for your favourite entry through Facebook up until 28 February. The second category, text (which includes stories, news and articles), will be selected and voted on from 1 March. The announcement of winners will take place on 7 March and the winners of both image and text categories will travel to CERN in April accompanied by a parent or teacher.
So visit CERNland and share your favourites via Facebook, Tuenti or email. You can vote for the images and video you like the most from now until 28 February.
It has been a busy few months for particle physics in Spanish high schools; Spain has the second highest number of participants registering for CERN's Beamline for Schools – an international competition the laboratory has launched to mark its 60th anniversary. Some 455 teams of high-school students have sent proposals to conduct an experiment a particle at CERN. Of these, 85 are Italian, 66 Spanish and 45 in the US.