A World without Polymers - An Essay and Video Contest

Winners selected.

To see the winning contributions, look
here.

To celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to humankind, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) have jointly declared the International Year of Chemistry 2011 (IYC 2011).

As a particular event, the Polymer Division of the IUPAC is launching an International contest on
“A World Without Polymers?”. The call is addressed to university and high-school students in each of the 60 countries of the national adhering and associate adhering organizations of the IUPAC. Participation in the contest is invited by submission of either a video or an essay on the theme of “A World Without Polymers?”, that is on how the world might be like if, as absurd as it may sound, there were no polymers in the contemporary or in the future world.

Therefore, the objective of this action is to increase an educated appreciation and to encourage an improved understanding of the significance of polymers and polymeric materials to everybody’s quality of life. This is achieved in the contest by envisioning in a reversed prospective the disgrace of a world without polymers and their tremendous impact.

The target audience would be the general public, where instead such appreciation is lacking and the widespread use of polymers is unconsciously taken for granted. Essays will be posted on the IUPAC Polymer Education website. The videos will be uploaded on the Internet, e.g. YouTube, which also ensures worldwide dissemination of the take-home message to a larger body of users.

The three best videos and essays will be awarded a prize by the IUPAC Polymer Division, and the authors will be invited to present their work at the IUPAC 46th General Assembly in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2011.

Details and Planned Schedule:

The contest for both videos (max 10 minutes in English) and essays (max 5 pages in English) on the theme  "A World Without Polymers?" was announced broadly in October 2011.

The competition is open to university and high-school students. Entrants are asked to submit their essay or video to IUPAC from 1 November 2010 through 31 May 2011. If you are submitting an essay, please send your entry with contact information to Giancarlo Galli, University of Pisa,
[email protected]. If you are submitting a video to the contest, please upload your work to YouTube and send the YouTube address to Giancarlo Galli, University of Pisa, [email protected].

The winners will be notified by June 30, 2011. The winner or a representative of a team entry will invited to the IUPAC 46th General Assembly in San Juan (Puerto Rico), 30 July 30-7 August, 2011.

For more information, please contact Giancarlo Galli, University of Pisa, [email protected].