The Crustacean Society

This award is given to the best student oral and poster presentations at the annual meetings of TCS. It is intended to encourage and reward students who are members of the Society, and students who are not members but who could potentially become members, to continue their research on crustaceans and their affiliation with the Society.

Eligibility: Any person who is enrolled in any degree-granting program, whether undergraduate or graduate, is eligible for this award if they are contributing a paper at the annual meetings of TCS. Recent recipients of the Ph.D. remain eligible for one full year after their official date of graduation. The student does not need to be a member of the Society. The paper must be based primarily on the student's own research; co-authored papers are eligible only if they meet this criterion and are presented by the student. Although intended for contributed papers, the award may be given to a symposium speaker if the talk is based substantially on original research rather than purely a review. All presentations, regardless of format, will be judged on an equal basis.

Both oral and poster presentations may receive a maximum of 100 points each. The judges award points based on set criteria. Each presentation is judged by three judges, and all scores are tallied by the Program Officer.

Oral presentations are judged on the following criteria:

1. originality (up to 10 points);
2. hypothesis/objectives (up to 20 points);
3. experimental design (up to 10 points);
4. implementation (up to 10 points);
5. validity of conclusions (up to 20 points);
6. graphic quality (up to 10 points);
7. oral clarity for content (up to 10 points), and;
8. answers to questions (up to 10 points).

Poster presentations are judged on the following criteria:

1. abstract (up to 5 points);
2. originality (10 points);
3. hypothesis/objectives (up to 20 points);
4. experimental design (up to 10 points);
5. implementation (up to 10 points);
6. validity of conclusions (up to 20 points);
7. writing and graphics quality (up to 10 points);
8. answers to questions (up to 10 points), and;
9. bibliography (up to 5 points).

Top acknowledged categories for both oral and poster presentations are       

Best Presentation: winner receives a certificate, US$100, and a one-year membership in The Crustacean Society, including subscription to The Journal of Crustacean Biology.

First runner-up: winner receives a certificate

Second runner-up: winner receives a certificate

All three winners have their names, presentation titles and abstracts published in the Ecdysiast.

Students may compete for best oral or poster presentation at any TCS meeting. Please register for the student competitions when you register for the meeting.