Awards Ceremony Held for the 10th Edition of the “There's Chemistry Here” Contest Organized by IQS

On 10 June, the awards ceremony for the 10th edition of the “There’s Chemistry Here” contest organized by IQS and aimed at first and second year secondary school baccalaureate students took place. This year’s edition featured participation with 156 total videos from 13 schools throughout Catalonia. The event was chaired by Dr Jordi Díaz, Dean of the IQS School of Engineering, who was assisted by Dr Jordi Cuadros, professor with the Department of Quantitative Methods, and Dr Xavier Ramirez, with IQS Communications and Corporate Marketing.

In the section featuring the award-winning videos, third place went to the video “Natural deodorant,” prepared by Anna Armengou from the Sant Gervasi Jesuit School in Barcelona. This video was made under the guidance of her chemistry teacher Pere Rosado. Second place went to Julieta Nesser Stucky, from the Sant Gervasi Cooperative School in Mollet del Vallés, with the video “Artificial photolysis,” a video that was supervised by her chemistry teacher Laia Hernández. The award for second and third place is a scholarship for 50% of the tuition for the first year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.

The first prize winner was Hao Jin Lin, from the Casp Jesuit School in Barcelona, with the video “Homemade bioplastic,” made under the guidance of her teacher Maria Conesa. The winner can earn a scholarship for 75% of the tuition for the first year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering at IQS, along with the possibility of earning the Academic Excellence Scholarship for subsequent academic years.

Nora Nart, from the Pia de Terrassa School, won the fan favourite award with her video “Green Synthesis,” as the video with the most votes on YouTube. The video was supervised by her teacher Dolors Ventura. The prize, collected in person by the supervisor of the video, consists of a FNAC gift card worth €300.

Finally, prizes were awarded to the schools with the largest number of participants. Second and third prizes, worth €1,000 in school equipment to be chosen by the school itself, went to Viaró Global School, with 30 videos submitted, and to Sant Gervasi Jesuit School, with 20 videos submitted. Javier Pérez and Enric Píriz accepted the awards on behalf of each of the schools.

First prize entailed €1,500 in school equipment to be chosen by the school itself, and was awarded to the Vedruna Vall de Terrassa School, with 47 videos submitted. Cristina Vila accepted the award in person on the school’s behalf.

The winning videos were screened during the awards ceremony and can be viewed along with the other participating videos on the contest’s website www.aquihihaquimica.com.

The event ended with closing remarks from Dr Díaz, who welcomed the high level of involvement in the competition both in terms of the number of participating schools and their distribution throughout Catalonia. He also stated that, over the 10 editions of the event, a total of 1,184 videos from 128 schools, mostly from Catalonia, have been submitted since its inception in 2015. Dr Díaz also encouraged teachers to continue inspiring students to participate as a way to increase their creativity and their interest in scientific dissemination issues and showed his gratitude to the families of the participants for their support and for inspiring participation.

The 10th edition of the contest featured video submissions from secondary school baccalaureate students at schools throughout Catalonia. Specifically, the following schools in Barcelona participated: Betania-Patmos, Escuela Pía de Sarrià, La Salle Bonanova, Jesuïtes Casp, Jesuïtes Sant Gervasi, Saint Nicholas School, and Padre Damián-Sagrados Corazones; as well as the following schools from elsewhere in Catalonia: Escuela Pía de Terrassa, Escuela Sant Gervasi Cooperativa (Mollet del Vallès), La Vall (Bellaterra), Hamelin Laie International School (Montgat), Vedruna Vall (Terrassa), and Viaró Global School (Sant Cugat del Vallès).