Rules & FAQs

Entrants

The competition is open to students who, at the time of entry, are on a first-degree course at a university located within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (students do not have to be in the final year of their course to be entered).

Students graduating in the summer of 2008 are eligible to enter the competition but post-graduate students are not.

Part-time students, and foundation course students, may not be entered.

There are no restrictions on gender, age or nationality.

Students can only be entered by their lecturers, students who do not have the endorsement of a lecturer may not enter the contest directly.

Lecturers should only nominate students who will receive, or are expected to receive, a first class degree.

Entry Process

We only accept nominations for the awards electronically on this website. Please go to 'Entries' to enter for an award.

Closing Date

The closing date for entries is Friday, 18th July 2008.

Method of Entry

Entries must be made via the 'Entries' section of this website using the electronic entry form.

Lecturers must submit two documents:

1) A SYNOPSIS or POSTER of no more than 2,000 words written by the student, detailing a project the student has been involved in either individually, or as a member of a team, which will have been completed by the closing date of the competition. This synopsis can include diagrams, photographs or other material. Data within the diagrams, footnotes, photographs or other material will not count towards the 2,000 word limit. If the student has prepared a poster for their project, then the poster can be used as a synopsis, though entries must be accompanied by 500 word description of the poster.

The first paragraph of the synopsis or poster description, which should be no more than 100 words, must give a brief overview of the project expressed in simple layman's terms. Imagine that you have to explain your project and its significance to a class of sixth-formers, or to a local newspaper.

2) A CITATION of no more than 500 words, written by the lecturer, describing:

  • The student's course
  • The standard of degree the student is likely to obtain
  • The student's achievements within their course, detailing any special attributes of the student and giving the reasons why the lecturer believes they merit an award


These must be sent via email to: (info@World-Leadership-Forum.org or info@setawards.org) or on Compact Disc sent through the post or courier service (we require 4 copies of a CD).

Documents should be prepared as Adobe Acrobat PDF files or Microsoft Word files.

Selecting a Category

Lecturers should enter students by selecting the most appropriate category from the list shown on the Entries page.

Categories should be selected according to the subject/s of the project, rather than the subject/s of the student's course. If the student's project does not fit precisely in to one of the available catgeories, then it should be entered into the closest available category.

The organisers reserve the right to move projects into a different category if the entered category is not suitable for the project.

Team Projects

In the case of team projects, a single student should be nominated who can represent the whole team at the interview and at the presentation ceremony.

Number of Entries

  • No lecturer may enter more than three students from any one course.
  • No student may be entered more than once.

Return of Entries

Entries and any accompanying material will not normally be returned or acknowledged.

Criteria

The judges will apply the following criteria:

  • Technical Depth: The scientific and/or engineering knowledge which the student has had to understand and use within the project.
  • Level of Achievement: What the student has actually achieved within the project.
  • Creativity: The degree of imagination or originality the student has applied in their project.
  • Quality of Synopsis: The presentation of the synopsis and the extent to which the student explains the background of the project, the context in which the project was undertaken etc.
  • Quality of Candidate: (based on the lecturer's citation in the Preliminary Judging, and on the student's interview in the Final Judging) the personal qualities of the student including their motivation, dedication to the project, and their ability to act as an ambassador for their discipline.

Judging

Preliminary Judging
A panel of judges will assess the entries and produce a shortlist of three students in each category.

The results of the Preliminary Judging will be announced on Friday, 29th August 2008 when details of the students who have reached the category shortlists will be published on this website.

Shortlisted students will be contacted on or around this date and given details of the time and venue for their interviews. In order to facilitate this all students must supply an address and telephone number at which they can be reached from Friday, 29th August 2008.

Final Judging (Interviews)
Students who are shortlisted will be required to attend a personal interview before the judges in London. Interviews will take place on Friday 26th September 2008, the same day as the Gala Dinner and Presentation Ceremony.

The organisers will pay reasonable return travel costs, from within the UK only, of students attending interviews. Travel costs will not be paid to students' guests and lecturers attending the Presentation Ceremony.

The purpose of the interviews is to enable the judges to get a more detailed understanding of the students' projects as well as a broader picture of the students' overall capabilities.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

STUDENTS ENTERING THE COMPETITION MUST BE AVAILABLE TO ATTEND AN INTERVIEW IN LONDON ON FRIDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2008 AND THE AWARDS CEREMONY IN THE EVENING OF THE SAME DATE. STUDENTS WHO ARE NOT AVAILABLE ON THIS DATE MAY NOT ENTER THE COMPETITION.

The decisions of the judges will be final and will not be subject to any appeal. All entrants must agree to be bound by them. Neither the judges nor the organisers are obliged to give any reason for their judgements, or enter into any correspondence with the entrants or their representatives.

Presentation Ceremony

The competition winners will be announced and trophies presented at the 2008 Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year Awards Dinner and Presentation Ceremony which will take place at the Royal Lancaster in London, on the evening of Friday 26th September 2008.

All shortlisted students (three in each category), their lecturers, plus one personal guest per student, will be invited to attend.

Publicity

The organisers issue regular press releases throughout the period of the contest. Entrants (both students and lecturers) are expected to cooperate with interested media and, within reason, to make themselves available for interviews, photographs etc. Information contained in projects which are subject to confidentiality agreements will not be published, but other information in the possession of the organisers may be.

Entrants who refuse to cooperate with reasonable requests for interviews, pictures etc., may be disqualified.

Organisers

The Science, Engineering & Technology Student of the Year Awards are organised by:

The World Leadership Forum
Warnford Court
29 Throgmorton Street
London
EC2N 2AT

Phone: 020 7374 8581
Fax: 020 7374 8582
e-mail info@World-Leadership-Forum.org