Today we are announcing the second open SteemSTEM writing competition!
As we, the SteemSTEM people, always say is that the best way to learn about a topic is to teach it to others. Our initiative offers the community the opportunity to get rewarded for such an effort, and we are always hunting for the best contributions. In the spirit of this effort, we are happy to organize the second STEM writing contest on Steemit!
The topic?
As with the first round, the topic of the competition is open so that you can write about any topic of interest as long as it is connected to the STEM fields. We have however added a few requirements to make the contest funnier:
- Each article will have to include one paragraph detailing the reason of the choice of the topic. Special points in the ranking (see below) will be attributed for this. Of course, we imagine that the choice is motivated by the fact that you find the topic interesting and think that others could learn something by reading about it, but we would like you to expand upon your reasons a little bit.
- The length of the post must be comprised between 800 and 1500 words. This will ensure the post is neither too short nor too long.
- Any user can only post at most a single entry to the contest (more information below).
Moreover, we impose three extra simple rules:
- Be nice
- Have fun
- Cite **ALL** your sources
We recommend the reading of the posts who won the previous edition of the contest for examples. Information can be found here.
The prizes
This time, the five best posts will be rewarded.
- 1st Place - 200 Steem Power + 18.5 STEEM (Rewards earned from this post)
- 2nd Place - 100 Steem Power + 18.5 STEEM (Rewards earned from this post)
- 3rd Place - 50 Steem Power + 18.5 STEEM (Rewards earned from this post)
- 4th Place - 50 Steem Power
- 5th Place - 25 Steem Power
In addition, if you manage to rank in the top three your post will be re-steemed in addition to the bonus monetary prize.
Entry
Entry is simple, just tag your post with the dedicated #steemstem-competition2 tag. To make sure we notice your entry, you can advertise it on the #SteemSTEM chat.
To maintain fairness to all participants, and encourage everyone to put their best foot forward we will only be accepting ONE entry per user. If you submit multiple articles to the competition only the first submitted article will be considered.
Judging and ranking
The jury assessing the quality of the posts will again be comprised of three members of the SteemSTEM team, 
As with all aspects of the SteemSTEM project, the team is prohibited from participating. All the inputs come from the community and all of the rewards go back to the community!
We will each assign your post a score based on 5 guidelines.
- Accuracy - 15 pts
- Comprehensibility - 15 pts
- The choice of the topic - 10 pts
- Formatting - 5 pts
- Appropriate citations and references - 5 pts
Scientific accuracy: Spreading inaccurate and/or false information leads to confusion for your readers!
Comprehensibility: Garbled text or text that is too technical can be hard to understand. It is always possible to make complex topics simple, and that is something that we as science writers, should strive for.
Topic: As said above, we will pay a special attention to the reasons that have pushed you to write on the submitted topic.
Formatting: Large solid blocks of text are difficult to read and concentrate on, no matter the comprehensibility of the text. We are not looking for advanced formatting techniques, just basic, solid formatting improving the readability and motivating your readers to put in the time to read your post.
Citations: Citing information gives credits on the one hand, and serves as a way for your readers to learn more if they are interested on the other hand.
After evaluating each post we (
Entry starts tomorrow, Wednesday March 1st and ends Tuesday March 7th, exactly one week. The results will be announced and prizes sent within the following week, unless there happens to be a major turnout.