NanoArt Imagery Contest

Purpose of the Contest

nanoTox supports the atmosphere of discovery and wonder that Rice nanotech research represents. The first goal of the contest is for the participants to have fun. The second goal is to promote the public’s acceptance of and interest in nanotechnology: most people who are new to the topic really start to “get it” when they see compelling pictures. nanoTox and the Smalley Institute would also like to reward the hard work of our non-Faculty researchers at Rice, who are such a big part of our success in this area.

We also happen to believe that many of the illustrations, models and nanoscopic images that we see in pursuing nanoscale science are very artistic in nature: they transcend basic illustration and speak to our human desire to transcend the mundane.

Contest Guidelines and Rules

The contest is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at Rice. Images may be submitted by individuals or groups, but they should be the work primarily of students, rather than faculty. The work needs to be fresh: completed in the six months prior to submission. Re-submitting the same image is allowed for three separate months, as long as the work is still fresh and has not won in a prior month.

The submission deadline is the last Friday of each month, before midnight, and the winner will be announced by the fifteenth of the following month. Winning images will be displayed on the Smalley Institute Website, with a link to the nanoTox Website. Winners will be awarded $100. In the case of teams, each team member named on the submission will receive an equal portion of that $100.

Images should be submitted electronically to nano@rice.edu. If the file is too large for the Rice email system, contestant should bring the file to the Smalley Institute in the Space Science Building on a flash drive, CD or DVD. The Smalley Institute will also provide a form for entrants to fill out, including the name or names of the entrants, additional information, and permission to reprint or republish the images on Smalley Institute and nanoTox media.

Judgment Criteria and Jury

Images will be judged by a jury consisting of representatives from nanoTox, the Smalley Institute and the Rice Art Department, and the winners will be selected based on a combination of visual beauty and technical marvel. In other words, an image that is visually striking and illustrates an important principle in nanotechnology is just as valid for submission as one that is purely a visually-compelling picture.

ENTRY FORM

Contest Deadlines