by the Executive Judging Committee (EJC)

Members of the Executive Judging Committee (EJC) also gave a session on this topic at iGEM’s 2020 Opening Weekend Festival
(YouTube)(Bilibili)

The 2020 iGEM Season is quite a bit different from previous years, and the Executive Judging Committee (EJC) has made some exciting changes to the medal criteria so that all iGEM teams can participate and achieve medals – with or without lab access – this year.

Executive Judging Committee at the 2019 Giant Jamboree

iGEM 2020 Judging Hub

You can find a lot of very useful information for how to succeed in the competition at the iGEM 2020 Judging Hub, including links to:

Judging Application – each year iGEM recruits a volunteer panel of judges, both experienced and new, who really understand iGEM. Judges may come from various backgrounds – from iGEM alumni, PIs, instructors and advisors, to professionals in synthetic biology, biotechnology, and engineering industries, to people in complimentary areas, such as the humanities, art and design, and software (please send to people you think may be interested)
Judging Handbook – a resource that is useful not only for judges, but also highly recommended for teams to review during the iGEM season. The Judging Handbook covers the ideas and principles of judging in iGEM, and will give you a sense of how excellence is viewed and what judges are looking for in evaluating teams for medals and prizes.

Judging Forms – every team must fill out a Judging Form prior to the Giant Jamboree. The Judging Form is the primary way that teams communicate their achievements with the judges, enabling teams to explain how they have met the medal criteria and to nominate themselves for special prizes.
Judging Rubric – each year the Judging Rubric is updated to reflect the evolution of the competition and the current conditions under which teams are working. While the individual decisions judges make about teams must remain confidential until after the Jamboree, the rubric that judges use in evaluating iGEM teams is available for all teams to view.
Pages for Awards – to make it easier for judges to find relevant documentation, we have created pages in your wiki template for specific awards and medal criteria with static (unchangeable) links. If your team wants to be evaluated for an award/medal, you will need to document your achievements related to this award/medal on these pages.

Judges during a team presentation at the 2019 Giant Jamboree

Medal Criteria for 2020

Due to COVID-19, we understand that many campuses and laboratories are closed. We have updated the Medal Criteria for 2020 to be open and flexible, and therefore more appropriate for this year. Every team is eligible to win a medal. Medals are not competitive across teams; teams are only competing with themselves to achieve the medal criteria.

No lab work required – Teams can achieve a Bronze, Silver, or Gold medal without doing laboratory work. A Bronze medal is awarded to those teams that have participated in iGEM 2020, presented their work, and made a contribution for future teams. A Silver medal is awarded to those teams that have addressed these key pillars of an iGEM project: engineering success, collaboration, and human practices. A Gold medal is awarded to those teams that have shown excellence in multiple areas beyond the Silver medal, and this year there are seven options – yes seven! – of which you only need to achieve 2 or more to earn a Gold medal.
Teams with lab access can still submit laboratory work for medal criteria. In particular, you can: contribute new data to an existing Part (Bronze #4), design and build a new Part and show that it works as expected (Silver #1), or make a new Part that improves the function of an existing Part (Gold #2). Lab work could also be used in your modeling work (Gold #3) and to help show that your whole system works (Gold #4).
Medals Guidance – Many of the changes we’ve made to the medal criteria have opened up new ways in which teams can achieve those criteria. Therefore, we wanted to provide teams with some guidance, ideas, and suggestions for how to think about and approach the criteria. We will continue to work with our committees to update this guidance as the iGEM 2020 season progresses based on feedback and/or questions we receive from teams.

Team Lambert GA at the 2019 Giant Jamboree Awards Ceremony

Awards for 2020

As in past years, the Awards for the 2020 iGEM season will include Grand Prizes for the Undergraduate, Overgraduate and High School teams, which will be selected by the judges from a small number of finalists based on the overall excellence of their entire iGEM project, including contributions from the quality of the Team Wiki, Poster, and Presentation.

There will also be Track Awards and Special Prizes to be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on how impressed they are with the level of excellence demonstrated by teams. Track Awards recognize excellence in each of the twelve different tracks, including Diagnostics, Energy, Environment, Food & Nutrition, Foundational Advance, Hardware, Information Processing, Manufacturing, New Application, Open Projects, Software, and Therapeutics.

Special Prizes are awarded to honor the most innovative and unique contributions to iGEM in several areas, including Education, Hardware, Integrated Human Practices, Measurement, Modeling, New Basic Part, New Composite Part, Part Collection, Plant Synthetic Biology, Poster, Presentation, Software tools, Supporting Entrepreneurship, and Wiki.

Two new Special Prizes are being introduced for the first time this year:

Inclusivity Award to recognize exceptional efforts to include people with diverse identities in scientific research, and
Best Sustainable Development Impact Award to recognize teams demonstrating excellence in working towards one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals to integrally address global environmental, social, and economic challenges.

The iGEM competition also has Community-Awarded Prizes that are voted on by the wider iGEM community to celebrate teams and their work in ways that a traditional judging panel would not be able to do. This year there will be two Community-Awarded Prizes:

The iGEMer’s prize to be selected by this year’s iGEM teams to celebrate their favorite teams that they believe best represents the iGEM values, and

A new Community-Awarded Prize is being introduced to recognize excellence in the Project Promotion Video that iGEM teams will be creating this year:

Best Project Promotion Prize to reward the creative use of video and clear communication in the team’s Project Promotion video (a new requirement for iGEM 2020).

Even more details about iGEM medals, awards, and prizes can be found at the iGEM 2020 Judging Hub. And if you have questions and suggestions, you can contact us by email at judging AT igem DOT org. We at the EJC love hearing from teams and wish you the best of luck with your projects!