Challenges 2020: Lay science writing winners announced

The Centre for Innovation was thrilled to once again partner with the Centre for Blood Research at the University of British Columbia to deliver our annual Lay Science Writing Competition. And with this year’s theme of “Challenges 2020”, it’s no surprise that the competition received many interesting, heartfelt and inspiring entries. A huge thank you to everyone who entered. Our panel of esteemed judges, which included science and communication experts from Canadian Blood Services and the Centre for Blood Research, faced their own challenge to pick the best entries based on the competition guidelines. No easy task, but it’s my pleasure to announce the results:

Joint first prize (in alphabetical order):

Melina Messing (CBR/SBME graduate student) for “Lost in lab: deciphering blood immune cells to fight COVID-19”

& Polina Petlitsyna (CBR/SBME summer student) for “Developing cell biology lessons for seniors in the age of COVID”

Runner-up:

Sarah Longo (McMaster University/MCTR undergraduate student) for “2020: The Year No One Expected - Challenges Researchers Face during a Global Pandemic”

Congratulations to our 2020-2021 winners! And watch this space as each of the awarded entries will be published on the R.E.D. blog over the next few weeks.

Winners of previous Lay Science Writing Competitions

The winning entry and runners up in last year’s Lay Science Writing Competition were also published on R.E.D. blog. You can find them here:

2019-2020 winner

• Lay Science Writing Competition winner: Is TACO best eliminated with Lasix (TACO-BEL)?

2018-2019 winners

• Competition winner: Optimizing Cord Blood Donor Recruitment
• Writing competition runner up: Phlebotomy to improve surgical outcomes and donor blood economy – a redemption story
• Iron deficiency in pregnancy – a matter of public health
• Creating platelets 2.0: stronger, faster, and with twice the life-saving power

The 2020-2021 Canadian Blood Services Lay Science Writing Competition was organized by the Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation with welcome support from the Centre for Blood Research at the University of British Columbia.

Canadian Blood Services – Driving world-class innovation

Through discovery, development and applied research, Canadian Blood Services drives world-class innovation in blood transfusion, cellular therapy and transplantation—bringing clarity and insight to an increasingly complex healthcare future. Our dedicated research team and extended network of partners engage in exploratory and applied research to create new knowledge, inform and enhance best practices, contribute to the development of new services and technologies, and build capacity through training and collaboration. Find out more about our research impact. 

The opinions reflected in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Canadian Blood Services nor do they reflect the views of Health Canada or any other funding agency.