In celebration of National Nanotechnology Day and National Chemistry Week, the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), three scientific organizations are holding a joint image contest. The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO), on behalf of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), the NSF-funded UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UCSD MRSEC), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) are giving people the opportunity to explore and showcase the beauty of the nanoscale and learn the value of working at fundamental length scales. Submit your image today!

ACS is sponsoring the prizes for NanoInFocus. The top three winning images will receive prizes of up to $1,000. The winning images may also be featured in the NNI Supplement to the President’s Budget, which will be sent to Congress, and in Chemical & Engineering News, a weekly news magazine published by ACS. 

Voting process: A jury of experts will select submitted images based the aesthetics of the image, scientific motivation for the image, and the effectiveness of the image and its caption at telling a compelling story about what is happening and why research is being conducted on the nanoscale. The selected collection of images will then be made available on the NNI's website for public voting to determine the winning images. Leaders in science, government, and art will be invited to join the jury of experts, as well as share their comments on some of these images on the voting page. 

Timeline:

• Submission portal closes on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.
• Jury down-selects images between Sept. 26 and Oct. 4.
• Public voting opens on National Nanotechnology Day, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024.
• Winners are announced during National Chemistry Week on Oct. 24, 2024.

About: The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a non-profit founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. They are one of the world’s largest scientific organizations and their mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. National Chemistry Week (NCW) is an annual community-based program of ACS which unites ACS local sections, student communities, ACS divisions, businesses, schools, and individuals to communicate the importance of chemistry to our quality of life. NCW occurs annually during the third week of October, typically the same week as Mole Day (Oct. 23). 

The UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (UCSD MRSEC) is a major research center focused on research and education in materials science.  One of 20 MRSECs funded by the National Science Foundation, the UCSD MRSEC encompasses two major themes in materials science and engineering research: Predictive Assembly and Stimuli-Responsive Living Polymeric Materials.

The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) conducts public engagement on behalf of the NNI. NNCO activities include efforts to convene the nanotechnology community, share information on available resources and opportunities, engage with the public, excite students about nanotechnology, and share highlights and information about nanotechnology and the NNI. National Nanotechnology Day is an annual event featuring community-led events and activities on or around October 9 to help raise awareness of nanotechnology.

Application Requirements

• The submission period begins on August 28, 2024 and concludes on September 25, 2024 at 11:59pm Mountain Time. Late submissions will not be considered.
• Any participant who is under the age of eighteen (18) must submit a waiver signed by your parent or legal guardian. Please access the form here and upload it to CAFE when you submit your artwork.
• Images must be micrographs (computational models or artificial intelligence generated images are not allowed). A micrograph is a digital image captured through a microscope such as a scanning electron microscope or atomic force microscope that shows a magnified representation of an object.
• Images must include a scale bar with tick marks that represent 1 micron or smaller.
• Images can include false-colors but no other image manipulation is permitted.
• Images must be no more than 5 years old. 
• Images must include a short description (no more than 1000 characters) suitable for a general audience which explains the research and the importance of working at fundamental length scales. 
• A maximum of one entry per individual or team is permitted. Artists submitting an individual work may not also participate on a team.
• For team submissions, the individual who submits will be the lead point of contact for the submission. The order in which names are listed on the entry form and their spelling is how the names will appear in credits. No changes can be made after the entry is submitted. 
• Accepted file types are JPEG/JPG.
• File name: your full name without spaces, e.g. “JaneDoe.jpg”. Teams should use the lead point of contact’s name.
• File Dimensions: 1,200 pixels or greater on the longest side.
• File Size: Under 5 MB.
• If you have any questions or need help submitting art, please contact cafe@westaf.org or visit the CaFÉ website.
• All submissions are considered final and may not be modified, edited, or replaced.

Eligibility Criteria

• The contest invites anyone who is U.S.-based, especially U.S.-based students and researchers, to submit images (one image per person or research team) representing structures or materials at the nanoscale that they have created during their research activities. 
• Any participant who is under 18 years old must upload a consent form signed by one of their parents or guardians. Participants must be living and working in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, American Samoa, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, or the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
• Each entry must be original in concept, design, and execution and must not contain any elements that are protected by someone else’s copyright or otherwise subject to third-party intellectual property or proprietary rights, including privacy and publicity rights. Any entry that has been copied from an existing photo or image that was created by someone other than the artist is a violation of the rules and will not be accepted. The organizers will not consider submissions of “fair use” copyrighted material or licensed materials created or owned by a third party.
• The content of all submissions must be suitable for a national, public audience. Submissions must not contain obscenity, explicit sexual material, nudity, profanity, graphic violence, calls or incitement to violence, commercial solicitation or promotion. Submissions must not contain content or images that could be considered abusive, inflammatory, denigrating, or disrespectful to any groups, individuals or institutions. Submissions must adhere to the norms of civil discourse.
• The organizers reserve the right to disqualify, at its sole and absolute discretion, any submission that does not adhere to these criteria.
• Images must be produced as part of research conducted by the contestants in the past 5 years and they may be used by NNCO, UCSD MRSEC, and ACS for promotional purposes. Submission implies contestants have author rights to submitted images and agree to give consent to NNCO, UCSD MRSEC, and ACS for use of images.