Poster Competition Guidelines
Every spring the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources hosts an annual poster competition to highlight the research and extension activities of our students. This year the competition will be held on the afternoon of April 11th on the second floor of PFEN. To participate, individuals need to submit an abstract by April 6th and then produce a poster for display. Individuals will need to stand at their poster for a 2-hour period during the event in order to answer questions from judges.
The poster competition is open ONLY to undergraduate and graduate students in FNR; post-docs and outside departments may participate in the event, but are not eligible for the awards and prizes. Categories include 1) Graduate Research; 2) Graduate Extension; 3) Undergraduate Research; and 4) Undergraduate Extension. Depending on the number of entries in each category, up to five awards will be given (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and two Honorable Mentions). Cash prizes will only be given to place winners. In addition, posters will be highlighted on the department’s website; all posters will be archived on the FNR Annual Poster Competition webpage. Archived posters will receive a stable, long-term IP address (for potential citations) and be linked to any resulting journal articles, extension publications, etc.
This document provides formatting guidelines for each of those components.
Formatting Guidelines:
The poster can be created with PowerPoint, Illustrator, Photoshop or any other similar software. Posters should be sized to no larger than a 36 x 48” printed poster format (or an equivalent 3:4 height-to-width ratio). Color, rather than black and white, versions are highly preferred. All text should be easily readable (ideally 24 pts or larger in a printed 36 x 48” format) and use common font styles found in most software packages (e.g., Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond, etc.).
Research posters should include at a minimum:
- Title – Please be concise; 15 words or less is preferred.
- List of authors with affiliation
- Abstract – 200 words maximum.
- Introduction – Briefly outline the research question or problem statement. Include tested hypotheses (may be separate section).
- Material and/or Methods – Briefly describe data/site and outline methods. If analytical techniques are complex and require significant description, you may use smaller font sizes.
- Results – Highlight 2-4 key findings from your work. Use simple figures and tables preferentially over blocks of text.
- Discussion – Describe the implications of your work in terms of science and/or application. This may be combined with #6 if desired.
Extension posters should include #1-4 above; other sections may be added as desired.
Remember the purpose of a poster is to provide a brief overview of a research or extension project, primarily through pictures, figures and tables. Outside the abstract, avoid large blocks of text; use bulleted sentences and lists whenever possible. The viewer should be able to quickly assess the subject matter of the poster within a few minutes.
Rubric
Each submission will be evaluated on a 100-point scale by at least three judges. The poster component will comprise 50% of the score, while the in-person Q&A will comprise 20% of the score. The remaining 30% will be an overall evaluation of the submission, including the quality and potential impact of the research/extension project. A final judging rubric will be available by April 1st.
Abstract Submission Link
To participate in the poster competition, you will need to complete the registration form by 11:59 pm on April 6th. The form is available at the following link.