One of my highlights of last year was judging the ‘Access to Understanding’ science writing competition.  And I didn’t event win it!

Well, the good news is that it’s happening again and the 2014 competition was launched this morning.  The less good news perhaps – from the point of view of entrants anyway – is that I am a judge again. But, luckily, we have recruited a few more lay people to the judging panel as well.

The serious point about the competition is that it is about recognising the importance of good plain language summaries as a key tool in communicating science and that the writing of them is a skill to be celebrated.

If you click on the poster below it will take you to the competition website.  Closing date for entries is 10th December.

Here’s the official written blurb.

“Access to Understanding is a successful international competition run by Europe PubMed Central, about to enter its second year, where entrants are invited to write a plain English summary (up to 800 words) of a research article. The competition seeks to increase public understanding of science, and to encourage researchers to consider public engagement and translation of complex cutting-edge contemporary research as an integral part of the research process. In essence, we want to raise awareness of the importance of bridging the gap between open access and broader understanding of the fruits of research.

The competition is open to all current biomedical and life sciences PhD students and post-doctoral researchers with a maximum of six years experience following completion of their first PhD, worldwide. The winner gets their entry published by eLife. For more information about the competition, please do get in touch, or see the competition details here.

Prizes will be presented by Professor Sir Mark Walport (Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government) at a prestigious awards ceremony at The British Library in London on 24 March 2014.

The winning entry will be published by eLife. The winner will also receive an iPad. Runners up will receive an iPad mini (2nd place) or a £100 Amazon voucher (3rd place) and, at the judges’ discretion, may also be published by eLife. All shortlisted entrants will have tickets reserved for them at the awards ceremony.”