Vol. 29 No. 1
January-February 2007

Jerika C.Shi (age 10), Philippines.

Chemistry Acoording to Kids

by Lida Schoen

In order to celebrate 2006 as the Year of Chemistry in Korea, the Korean Chemical Society (KCS) initiated and sponsored a global poster competition. Choon Do of the KCS collaborated with IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE) and Lida Schoen of the Science Across the World program to launch the poster competition, which culminated with a display during the International Conference on Chemical Education (ICCE) held in
Seoul in August 2006. Lida Schoen administered and managed the competition with the support of the SAW network.

Chemistry for Humanity
The theme for this poster competition was that of the conference: “Chemistry for Humanity.” Therefore, students who entered the contest were asked to visualize their ideas on this general concept. The contest offered two age categories: 10–13 and 14–16. Altogether, 944 entries were received from 32 different countries: 427 on paper and 517 electronic files in various formats. From these entries, 13 posters from the age 10-13 category and 41 posters from the age 14–16 category were preselected.

Hsin-Wei Wang (age 14), Taiwan.

There were no separate categories for paper and electronic entries. Criteria for the jury were as follows:

• relevance to the theme
• clear message, communication value
• artistic value: color, composition
• universally understandable, with little or no text

An exhibition of these posters was on display at the 19th International Conference on Chemical Education (ICCE) from 12 –17 August 2006 in Seoul,Korea.Around 300 chemists from all over the world were able to admire the selections (for more about the ICCE, see conference report on p.32).

Ronalyn T. Yu (age 14), Philippines.

Tough Choices for Judges

The entries displayed so much creativity, imagination, and ability that the panel of judges could hardly manage to select the best. The jury, consisting of Lida Schoen (Netherlands), Eva Åkesson (Sweden), Margaret-Ann Armour (Canada), Peter Atkins (U.K.), Karl Brachtl (Austria), Marianne Cutler (U.K.), Morton Hoffman (USA.), Onno De Jong (Netherlands), Mordechai Livneh (Israel), Jim McQuillan (New Zealand), Mauro Mocerino (Australia), and Kay Stephenson (U.K.), chose the poster by Jerika Shi (age 10) of Saint Jude Catholic School, Manila, Philippines, as the winner in the younger age group for its striking colors, clear message, and good design.

Maria Prasilova (age 16), Slovak Republic.

Three posters from the older age group were identified as exceptional: Ronalyn Yu, Philippine Tiong Se Academy, Manila, Philippines; Maria Prasilova, Slovak-English Bilingual School, Cadca, Slovak Republic; Hsin-Wei Wang, Taipei Municipal Chin-Hwa Junior High School, Taipei, Taiwan.

The winners received certificates of recognition and electronic devices such as hand-held game systems or MP3 players. All winners and the 12 runners-up (see full text pdf) received certificates of recognition, signed by Marianne Cutler, director of the Science Across the World program, and Bryan Henry, IUPAC president.

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