Student 10-minute Presentation Competition Information

Students are eligible for the competition for 12 months after the month of graduation, with current ESA student or student transition membership.

While all presenters may submit one oral and one poster display to the Annual Meeting program, only one submission may be accepted to the student competition. 

NEW IN 2025: Due to the continued growth of the student competition, students presenting at the Annual Meeting must submit their first, second, and third presentation preferences. Presentation options include: 

• Student 10-Minute Presentation Competition
• Student 10-Minute Presentation Non-Competition
• Student Poster Display Competition
• Student Poster Display Non-Competition

IMPORTANT: Every effort will be made to align each presenter’s preference with the available space and time for the competition. All assignments will be made by the Student Competition Co-Chairs, and their decisions are final. Students will be notified of their session and presentation assignment in mid-August.

Student presentations submitted after the May 30 deadline will not be eligible for inclusion in the student competition but will be placed in a non-competition session or a non-student session.

The Student Competition Co-Chairs will do their best to group presentations on these subjects into sessions together, although a perfect fit is not always possible.

Students who present their 10-minute presentation (10-min) at the Annual Meeting will be evaluated in the following areas:

Scientific Content (55%)

• Title concise, informative, and relevant for presentation content; judge title given on day of presentation, not what is listed in the online program (5 points)
• Introduction and background with pertinent literature cited (10 points)
• Objectives or hypotheses clearly stated and concise / Objectives of course design or teaching/extension program clearly stated and concise with learning gaps and target audience(s) identified (10 points)
• Materials and methods (study design) clear, concise, and appropriate to problem / Course or program design development and relevant evaluation metrics clear, concise, and appropriate for the learning gaps and audience(s) (10 points)
• Interpretation of results (actual or potential/proposed) and analysis (current or proposed) clear, concise, and accurate and addresses needs of target audience (10 points)
• Significance of results (actual or potential/proposed) to field of study or teaching community and targeted audience clearly discussed (10 points)

Presentation (45%)

• Logical order; minimum redundancy (5 points)
• Smooth transitions between presentation slides and sections (5 points)
• Slides use appropriate fonts, font sizes, high contrast images (for example, avoiding color schemes that are hard to distinguish for colorblind participants like red/green). Individual style and creativity are expressed. (10 points)
• Slides have no grammatical errors and are not excessively wordy (5 points)
• Effective use & description of visuals (i.e. photos, diagrams, figures, and tables); do they support the presentation narrative? (10 points)
• Appropriate volume (uses microphone if available) & speed of speech; clear communication (e.g. context, concise, conveys message); please note, score should not be dependent on audio equipment (5 points)
• Effective use of time; 10-12 minutes with appropriate balance across presentation sections, with time to field audience questions effectively (5 points)

Each presentation is judged independently by three judges. In the event of a tie, the Student Competition Co-Chairs will use the abstract to determine the winner.

A Sample 10-min Presentation Evaluation Form is available for reference.

Students compete only against the students in their session and not against other students in the same topic area but who were assigned to other sessions. Each presentation is allotted a total of 12 minutes; 10 for the presentation and 2 for questions.

The Student Competition Co-Chairs will do their best to group presentations on these subjects into sessions together, although a perfect fit is not always possible.