Celebrating the Scientific Legacy of NASA and Apollo: Essay Contest Guidelines
In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, as well as the 61st Anniversary of NASA, Wichita State University and the Wichita Space Initiative are pleased to announce an essay competition open to undergraduate students attended Kansas colleges and universities. The competition is funded by a grant from the NASA Kansas Space Grant Consortium.
Prizes of $1,000, $500, and $250 will be awarded to the top three finalists. The first-place finalist will read their paper at the symposium, "Celebrating the Scientific Legacy of NASA and Apollo", taking place on Saturday, October 19, 2019, at Wichita State University.
Instructions:
Length: 2,500-3,000 words (suitable for a 20 minute conference presentation).
Topic: Any topic that falls within one of the three sessions scheduled for the conference:
- Session 1: Celebrating the Scientific Legacy of NASA: We seek contributions which discuss the scientific, technological, and social significance of NASA initiatives other than Apollo, which could include historical missions such as Voyager and Mariner, but also ongoing missions such as MSL and InSight. Rather than focusing specifically on a single mission, a paper might instead summarize scientific advances by topic, e.g., the science of Mars, or of the outer planets.
- Session 2: Celebrating Women's and Minority Contributions to the Space Program: We seek papers discussing women's and minority contributions the space program, which could include papers summarizing women's and/or minority contributions to particular programs (Apollo, Voyager, etc.), or papers honoring the space research careers of specific women or persons of color.
- Session 3: Celebrating the Scientific Legacy of Apollo: We seek contributions which discuss the scientific, technological, and social significance of the Apollo program, which could include discussions of lunar geology, life sciences, engineering, Apollo spinoffs, etc. Papers need not be purely retrospective but might instead highlight ongoing research, for instance, recent studies of Apollo lunar samples.
Additional Guidelines: Essays must be the student's original work (papers written originally for a college class are permitted). Submissions must be in Word format (.doc, .docx). As a condition of consideration for first-place, you must indicate your willingness to read your paper during the conference. Your submission should also include a short bio (150 words or less).
Your submission should include two copies of your paper - a copy with identifying information (name, school); and a copy prepared for blind review that does not contain any identifying information.
Essays will be blind-reviewed by a panel consisting of the conference organizers as well as additional WSU faculty. Essays will be judged by depth of content, clarity, grammar, and originality.
Special consideration will be given to papers focusing on Kansas contributions to the space program.
The Deadline for essay submissions has now passed.
Return to the main conference page.