Entries for profile assignment prizes now welcome

School pupils in their final year of pre-college or pre-university education will soon be competing for the profile assignment prizes awarded by the University of Groningen. The competition is organized by the three University of Groningen support centres or steunpunten, to which pupils can come for help and advice when writing their profile assignment. Teachers and pupils have until 1 March to submit their entries.

Last year, the Arts, Science and Social Sciences support centres received some 125 assignments, from which the expert juries selected the most promising young research talent. Maurits Foorthuis from the Willem Lodewijk Gymnasium first won the University of Groningen’s own Jan Pen prize, before going on to win the Education Prize awarded by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). This prize entitles the winner to study for a year, free of charge.

At the festive awards ceremony on 5 April, school pupils will present their research at a busy fair before the names of the winners are announced. This is the eighth consecutive year that the three University of Groningen support centres have awarded these prizes for various academic fields. All nominees receive a detailed report from the jury and are given a chance to compete for the audience award. Furthermore, the Science support deskwill invite its prize winners to an international conference, which is due to be held in Bali this year.

2013: an extra festive year

The Arts support centre is celebrating its 10^th anniversary, so teachers and pupils will be able to enter a separate competition every month in the run-up to the awards ceremony. And in February, they will be asked to vote for who they consider to be the most influential woman in Dutch history.

Young researchers on YouTube

Last year’s entries varied from a study of how chewing gum affects people’s concentration to a well-argued case for revaluing the landscape of the Groninger Veenkoloniën region. The entrants’ films about their profile assignments illustrate the sheer quality and originality of the assignments. These inspirational films can be seen on the ScholierenRUG YouTube channel. One of the entries is a film version of Stan Putman’s philosophy profile assignment in which he shows how he lived without media for an entire month. This year too, we can look forward to exciting and inspirational films in the run-up to the awards ceremony.

More information : Scholierenacademie

Contact people:

Karen de Bot and Saskia Visser – Arts support centre

Renske de Jonge – Science support centre

Nanda Stijntjes – Social Sciences support centre