This page is under active development and is in draft form.

Track Awards

The iGEM 2016 judging committee hopes to award the following track awards, conditional on the accomplishments presented by the teams. Each prize will be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on how impressed they are with the level of excellence demonstrated by teams. Below are brief descriptions for each track award.

List of 2016 Standard Track Awards:

The iGEM 2015 judging committee hopes to award the following track awards, conditional on the accomplishments presented by the teams. Each prize will be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on how impressed they are with the level of excellence demonstrated by teams. Below are brief descriptions for each track prize.

Best Diagnostics Project: Many medical conditions can be successfully treated if only they are diagnosed at an early enough stage. Can your team come up with faster, cheaper and better diagnostics techniques to improve access to medical treatment worldwide?
Best Energy Project: World energy consumption has increased by roughly a factor of six since 1950. In May 2013, atmospheric C02 readings taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii surpassed 400 ppm for the first time, an unsustainably high concentration of CO2. Can we use synthetic biology to create energy technologies that produce less CO2, make energy using feedstock and waste materials or otherwise sustainably generate energy?
Best Environment Project: The quality of the air, water, and land, both on Earth and other heavenly bodies, limits the happiness of humans and other creatures. Can biotechnology be used to help clean the air, provide fresh drinking water, restore or enhance soil quality, terraform a near-Earth asteroid, or protect, preserve, or enhance natural biological diversity?
Best Food and Nutrition Project: People need to eat. Can biotechnology be responsibly used to produce food or nutritional molecules without causing widespread shortages of either, and without harming the environment that future generations will inherit?
Best Foundational Advance Project: Just thirty-five years ago, scientists could not cut and paste pre-existing fragments of genetic material like we can today. The discovery and application of DNA recombination allowed us to assemble new genes. The synthetic biology community needs other enabling technologies that help to make new accomplishments possible. What are other types of basic tricks does nature use? Have you discovered and applied one that could revolutionize synthetic biology?
Best Information Processing Project: The diversity and abundance of biological properties, behaviors, and parts presents a huge information processing challenge. Has your project led to an innovative system that allows us to navigate and use lots of information quickly and effectively?
Best Manufacturing Project: Have you ever heard of nanotechnology? Well, biology is a nanotechnology that already exists, and that actually works. The ribosome is a programmable nanoassembler embedded within a reproducing machine. Could we responsibly use biology to manufacture useful products, from the nanoscale (atoms) to the decascale (buildings and bridges)? What can biology be programmed to manufacture?
Best New Application Project: We're guessing that you have great ideas that nobody has ever thought about, or if they have they forgot to tell somebody else. Can you imagine an entirely new application area for biological technology?
Best Therapeutics Project: Many health and medical problems can best be addressed with new and novel therapies. What can synthetic biology do to improve techniques, technology and access to new and novel therapies?

There will be a track award distributed to teams in the undergraduate section and one to teams in the overgraduate section on the condition that there are more than 10 teams in each of the sections in the specified track. If there are less than 10 teams in either the undergraduate or overgraduate section of a track, the prizes will be combined into one track award.

List of 2016 Special Track Awards:

The iGEM 2015 judging committee hopes to award the following new track prizes, conditional on the accomplishments presented by teams. Each prize will be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on how impressed they are with the level of excellence demonstrated by teams.

Best Art & Design Project: Teams of art and design students with input from scientific advisors can use art to drive their iGEM projects, while also making scientific contributions. We are looking for projects that use art and design to consider and explore current and future implications of synthetic biology (including stakeholders, communication, pedagogy, thinking outwards).
Best Hardware Project: After many teams have worked in the area in the last few years, Hardware is now a part of iGEM. Are you developing hardware for synthetic biology? This broad definition of hardware could include projects working on low cost lab equipment, microfluidics, specialized equipment for measurement and many other areas. Hardware teams are encouraged to have wetware components to their projects, and are encouraged, but not required to submit parts.
Best Measurement Project: With all the instruments in our laboratories, why isn't measurement a solved problem in synthetic biology? Part of the problem is knowing what to measure and in what context. The iGEM Measurement Track will aim to address some of these problems.
Best Software Project: Computers have been around for a long time. Why don't we have more, great software tools to help everyone engineer synthetic biological systems based on standard biological parts?

Please note special track teams are not eilgible for the corresponding special awards. For example, the hardware track teams are not eligible for the hardware special prize. Special track teams are also not eligible for the grand prize.

Special Prizes

Special prizes are awarded to honor the most innovative and unique contributions to iGEM. The iGEM 2016 Executive Judging Committee hopes to award the following Special prizes, conditional on the accomplishments presented by the teams. Each prize will be awarded at the discretion of the judges based on how impressed they are with the level of excellence demonstrated by teams.

List of 2016 Special Prizes:

Special Prizes list coming soon!

There will be one special prize awarded to teams in the undergraduate section and one to teams in the overgraduate section. There may also be special prizes awarded to high school teams, providing the work is of sufficiently high quality. *Please note judges may choose not to award both undergraduate and overgraduate awards in cases where they have not been sufficiently impressed.

Grand Prizes

A small number of iGEM teams will be selected by the judges as iGEM Finalists. These teams will be selected based on the overall excellence of their entire project, from choice of project, to new Parts and Devices, to the quality of the Project Description, Poster, and Presentation, to the success and impact of the project, to consideration of issues of Human Practices, and so on. There will be three finalists from both the undergraduate section and the overgraduate section.

Grand Prize Undergraduate: also known as the aluminum BioBrick Trophy; best overall undergraduate team project
First Runner-Up Undergraduate: the next highest ranking undergraduate team project
Second Runner-Up Undergraduate: the next highest ranking undergraduate team project

Grand Prize Overgraduate: also known as the aluminum BioBrick Trophy; best overall overgraduate team project
First Runner-Up Overgraduate: the next highest ranking overgraduate team project

Grand Prize High School: also known as the BioBrick Trophy; best overall high school team project

Please send us any comments or suggestions for awards and judging by email to the judging committee at judging AT igem DOT org.