On 1 June, the awards ceremony was held for the 7th edition of the “There’s Chemistry Here” contest organized by IQS and aimed at first and second year secondary school baccalaureate students. This year’s edition featured the participation of 172 total videos from 20 schools throughout Catalonia.
On 1 June, the awards ceremony was held for the 7th edition of the "There's Chemistry Here" contest organized by IQS and aimed at first and second year secondary school baccalaureate students. This year's edition featured the participation of 172 total videos from 20 schools throughout Catalonia.
The event was chaired by Dr Jordi Díaz, Dean of the IQS School of Engineering, whose introduction speech praised the high level of quality in the contest both in terms of the number of schools participating and their regional distribution across Catalonia, an aspect that he highlighted after having shown the accumulated participation data over the last seven editions. Dr Díaz also challenged teachers to continue encouraging students to participate as a way to increase their creativity and their engagement regarding current science issues, and he reaffirmed IQS's commitment to continue organizing this highly successful contest among the schools.
In the section featuring the award-winning videos, third place went to the video "Polymers: the Chemistry of Diapers," made by Silvia Garcia-Arroba Romero, from the Puigcerver School in Reus, who accepted the award in person. This video was made under the guidance of her chemistry teacher, Mercè Montané. Second place went to Marta Tarrús Escalada, from the Montessori-Palau School in Girona, with the video "The Pfizer Vaccine." Marta attended the awards ceremony online along with her teachers Mónica Rabert and Montse Benach. The award for second and third place is a scholarship for 50% of the tuition for the first year of the Undergraduate Programme in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.
The first place winner was Mateu Llopart Mases, from the Bell-lloch School in Girona, with the video "The Chemistry of Cavities." Mateu, who also attended online along with his teacher Xavier Acín, has won a scholarship for 75% of the tuition for the first year of the Undergraduate Programme in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering at IQS, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.
Martina Miquel Folch, from the Pia de Terrassa School, won the fan favourite award for her video "Chemistry in Sports," supervised by her teacher Dídac Roig, as the video with the most votes on YouTube. This prize, accepted by Marina in person, consists of a FNAC gift voucher worth €300.
Finally, the €3,000 equipment prize was awarded to the Vedruna-Vall de Terrassa school, which produced the largest number of entries with 52 videos submitted. Cristina Vila and Montse Ferrer, teachers at the school, accepted the award in person.
The winning videos were viewed during the awards ceremony and can be viewed along with the other participating videos on the contest's website www.aquihihaquimica.com
The 7th edition of the contest featured video submissions from secondary school baccalaureate students at schools throughout Catalonia. Specifically, the following schools in Barcelona participated: Jesuïtes Casp, Jesuïtes Sant Gervasi, Maristes Sants-Les Corts, and Sagrat Cor Sarrià; and the following schools from elsewhere in Catalonia participated: Bell-lloch (Girona), Escola Pia de Terassa, Sant Josep (Sant Sadurní d'Anoia), Hamelin-Laie (Montgat), Internacional del Camp (Salou), Montessori-Palau (Girona), Jaume Viladoms (Sabadell), Jesuïtes Bellvitge (L'Hospitalet del Llobregat), Jesuïtes Lleida, La Vall (Bellaterra), La Salle (Reus), Puigcerver (Reus), Natzaret (Esplugues de Llobregat), Sagrada Familia (Sabadell), Vedruna-Vall (Terrassa), and Viaró Global School (Sant Cugat del Vallès).
Congratulations to all participants for another fantastic edition of There’s Chemistry Here!