Judging/Medals
iGEM Medals
All teams must convince the judges they have achieved each of the medal criteria. Simply ticking a box does not guarantee you will awarded a medal. Medal criteria will be simpler in 2016, but teams will need to meet all the deliverables in section 3 of the 2016 requirements page. Please see the Requirements Page for more information.
All teams can earn a medal. Teams can only win one medal in a given iGEM year. Teams must nominate themselves using the Judging Form. Please see our Judging Form info page for more information. See the Calendar for more information on iGEM deadlines.
The three levels of medals, from lowest to highest are Bronze, Silver, and Gold. We do not limit the numbers of each medal. Teams are only competing with themselves to achieve the medal criteria.
Medal | Explanation | Criteria for Standard Tracks | Criteria for Special Tracks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | All Criteria must be met | ||
| 1 | Register and attend | Register for iGEM, have a great summer, and attend the Giant Jamboree. | Register for iGEM, have a great summer, and attend the Giant Jamboree. |
| 2 | Deliverables | Meet all deliverables on the Requirements page (section 3). | Meet all deliverables on the Requirements page (section 3), except those that specifically mention parts. |
| 3 | Attribution | Create a page on your team wiki with clear attribution of each aspect of your project. This page must clearly attribute work done by the students and distinguish it from work done by others, including host labs, advisors, instructors, sponsors, professional website designers, artists, and commercial services. | |
| 4 | Part / Contribution | Document at least one new standard BioBrick Part or Device central to your project and submit this part to the iGEM Registry (submissions must adhere to the iGEM Registry guidelines). You may also document a new application of a BioBrick part from a previous iGEM year, adding that documentation to the part main page. | Document at least one new substantial contribution to the iGEM community that showcases a project made with BioBricks. This contribution should be equivalent in difficulty to making and submitting a BioBrick part. |
| Silver | All Criteria must be met | ||
| 1 | Validated Part / Validated Contribution | Experimentally validate that at least one new BioBrick Part or Device of your own design and construction works as expected. Document the characterization of this part in the Main Page section of that Part’s/Device’s Registry entry. Submit this new part to the iGEM Parts Registry. This working part must be different from the part documented in bronze medal criterion #4. | Validate that something you created (art & design, hardware, software, etc) performs its intended function. Provide thorough documentation of this validation on your team wiki. |
| 2 | Collaboration | Convince the judges you have helped any registered iGEM team from high school, a different track, another university, or another institution in a significant way by, for example, mentoring a new team, characterizing a part, debugging a construct, modeling/simulating their system or helping validate a software/hardware solution to a synbio problem. | Convince the judges you have helped any registered iGEM team from high school, a different track, another university, or another institution in a significant way by, for example, mentoring a new team, characterizing a part, debugging a construct, modeling/simulating their system or helping validate a software/hardware solution to a synbio problem. |
| 3 | Human Practices | iGEM projects involve important questions beyond the lab bench, for example relating to (but not limited to) ethics, sustainability, social justice, safety, security, and intellectual property rights. Demonstrate how your team has identified, investigated, and addressed one or more of these issues in the context of your project. Your activity could center around education, public engagement, public policy issues, public perception, or other activities (see the human practices hub for more information and examples of previous teams' exemplary work). | iGEM projects involve important questions beyond the lab bench, for example relating to (but not limited to) ethics, sustainability, social justice, safety, security, and intellectual property rights. Demonstrate how your team has identified, investigated, and addressed one or more of these issues in the context of your project. Your activity could center around education, public engagement, public policy issues, public perception, or other activities (see the human practices hub for more information and examples of previous teams' exemplary work). |
| Gold | At least two (2) criteria must be met | ||
| 1 | Integrated Human Practices | Expand on your silver medal activity by demonstrating how you have integrated the investigated issues into the design and/or execution of your project. | Expand on your silver medal activity by demonstrating how you have integrated the investigated issues into the design and/or execution of your project. |
| 2 | Improve a previous part or project | Improve the function OR characterization of an existing BioBrick Part or Device and enter this information in the Registry. Please see the Registry help page on how to document a contribution to an existing part. This part must NOT be from your 2016 part number range. | Improve the function OR characterization of an existing iGEM project (that your team did not originally create) and display your achievement on your wiki. |
| 3 | Proof of concept | Demonstrate a functional proof of concept of your project. Your proof of concept must consist of a BioBrick device; a single BioBrick part cannot constitute a proof of concept. (biological materials may not be taken outside the lab). | Demonstrate a functional proof of concept of your project. (biological materials may not be taken outside the lab). |
| 4 | Demonstrate your work | Show your project working under real-world conditions. To achieve this criterion, you should demonstrate your whole system, or a functional proof of concept working under simulated conditions in the lab (biological materials may not be taken outside the lab). | Bring your prototype or other work to the Giant Jamboree and demonstrate it to iGEMers and judges in your track showcase (biological materials may not be taken outside the lab). |
| Standard Tracks | Special Tracks | ||
