March 2008 Archives

Here are the Nominations for the Planet SciCast Awards 2008:

Best Chemistry Film

• Combustion and Stoichiometry — Helston Science
• Can Liquids Flow Uphill? — The Latchkids
• Ionic Bonding — Waldegrave School
• Turboturds — Team Titch

Best Biology Film

• The Richmond Park Deer — BB Films
• Reebops — St Marys
• Grow Your Own Body Parts — Queen Mary
• Flu Animation — Eagle Eye 3

The Institute of Physics’ Best SciCast Physics Film
(all winners of the regional SciCast Physics Awards)

• Physics of Roundabouts — Dizzy
• Solids, Liquids, and Gases — Eagle Eye 2
• Under Pressure (II) — Carbon-12
• Electrostatic Charges — The Van de Graff Girls
• Vinegar Rockets — Simply Super Simple Science
• Central Locking — Joey’s TY Physics

Best Engineering Film

• Why Did The Millennium Bridge Wobble? — The Clown Fish
• Tinkerers and EMP Launcher — Tinkerers
• Magnets and Rollercoasters — Go
• Structural Engineering in Action — Helston Science

Best Entertainment Film

• Space Balloons — Eagle Eye 1
• Under Pressure (III) — Pupils Under Pressure
• Refraction — Vibrant Films
• Turboturds — Team Titch

Best Film by a Team which includes Primary School Students

• Around the Universe in 2.5 Minutes — Marshions
• Flu Animation — Eagle Eye 3
• Heartbeat — Badminton Young Scientists
• Breaking News — Eagle Eye 4

Best Film by an All-Adults Team

• Floating and Sinking — Declan Fleming
• Attack of the Enzymes — Demented Schoolgirl Productions
• Combustion and Stoichiometry — Helston Science
• Sticky Books — Back of An Envelope Productions

Best Technical and Artistic Achievement

• Tinkerers and EMP Launcher — Tinkerers
• Magnets and Rollercoasters — Go
• Aerofoils — Gideon Farrell
• Refraction — Vibrant Films

Best Unpublishable Film
(This is an additional category to recognise some of the terrific films which were entered, but unfortunately can’t be published. In some cases this is because the experiments portrayed look too dangerous to repeat, but usually it’s a result of the films using still photographs, video material, and particularly music that aren’t licensed for publication.)

• Methane Bubbles — The Boyz In Green
• How to Curl a Football — St Pauls Sports Science Team
• Bermuda Triangle — M & H Productions
• Electricity Through Glass — Coseley TV

Best Film, the Juror’s Grand Prize

• Richmond Park Deer — BB Films
• Turboturds — Team Titch
• Solids, Liquids, and Gases — Eagle Eye 2
• Refraction — Vibrant Films
• Physics — Stronger Than The People Who Study It? — Starlink

Notes

Nominees will receive certificates, together with invitations to the glittering Awards Ceremony, details of which will be announced shortly. Category winners will be announced at the Ceremony: winning teams will receive individual medals and a coveted ‘SciCastie’ block award, along with Amazon vouchers worth £250.

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees, and our thanks to everyone who submitted a film.

Meanwhile… it’s time to start planning your entry for next year’s Awards!

See, it’s not just us who bang on about copyright issues.

In a classroom you can usually get away with using pictures, music, and video clips without worry, since you’re in a formal education environment. However, as soon as you step outside the classroom — even for a school play — you need to be more careful about what you use.

We’ve a whole load of advice about using music, and once the handbook comes out we’ll be revamping all of that material to make it clearer, and more useful.

Yes, we’ve been quiet — but we’ve also been busy!

Friday’s Planet Science Newsletter should contain details of the Nominations lists for the inaugural SciCast Awards. I don’t know about you lot, but the tension is certainly building here.