Deadline: August 1, 2021
The application period for the ClimateScience Olympiad 2021 is now open. The CS Olympiad is a global competition inviting young people around the world to find innovative solutions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
About the Competition
In preparation for the COP26 conference in Glasgow, ClimateScience will run this Olympiad to reach and inspire about 10,000 young participants aged 14-25 from around the world to find innovative solutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition to the Top 3 winning teams sharing from the $10,000 prize pool, the Top 50 finalist will also be invited to attend the “Green Zone” of the United Nations Climate Summit (COP26) in Glasgow, UK.
ClimateScience is a global charity creating and providing educational resources on solutions to climate change to 100,000s of people worldwide.
Eligibility
- To participate in this competition, they host two age brackets: 14-17 and 18-25. If you are in one of those at the time of registration, you are eligible regardless of nationality or other factors.
- Both members of a team must be within the same age bracket at the time of application. They will require proof-of-age from everyone who makes it to the semi-finals.
- Both age brackets participate in the same qualifiers and answer the same type of problem statements. However, they only compare participants within their age groups. This means they score the two brackets independently and normalize them within each other. Semi-finalists, finalists and eventually the winners are then chosen based on the highest normalized score across age groups. This ensures fair comparison regardless of age.
Benefits
- Winners: The top 3 teams win US$5,000, US$3,000 and US$2,000, respectively. The prize money is split half/half between the two team members or awarded in full in case the winner participated on their own.
- Finalists: If there’s no more pandemic, finalists will meet in person and attend the ‘Green zone’ of the United Nations Climate Summit (COP-26) in Glasgow on Nov 1-12, 2021. Meanwhile, they are applying for finalists to also get a chance to enter the zone where political conversations happen and will post an update on this by April 2021.
- Semi-finalists: You are invited to a ClimateScience-led training group to help you prepare for the semi-final and, if you proceed, for the final.
Application
Entry essay: You don’t need to prepare for essays – just write down what your current understanding of the topic is.
Qualifiers: Only 5% of participants can advance to the semi-finals, so preparation can make a major difference.
Semi-finalists: If you made it to the semi-finals, congratulations! All semi-finalists are invited to a ClimateScience-led training group to help you prepare intensely if you want to.
Finalists: Same as semi finals.
Judging Criteria: It is important to note that; Complexity, relevance, reasoning, structure & effectiveness, and your ability to provide reliable sources are critical for the judging criteria. All teams will have access to the rubric prior to the event. A judge’s final score will be the teams raw score. Based on all of the scores in a single age bracket over a one-month period, the z-scores for each team will be calculated. A z-score is the distance a raw score is from the average. More importantly, it allows them to normalize scores across different judges to provide a fair score to all teams.
Once they have all the z-scores from every team that competed in one month, they take the top 10% of the z-scores from the individual age brackets. The responses of this top 10% are rescored by another two judges. The z-score calculation process repeats and then the top 50% of these z-scores from both age brackets is determined. This top 50% of teams are those who will be invited to compete in the CS Olympiad Semi-Finals!
For more information: Visit the Competition’s official website
To apply, Click here
