Results of the RMBS Contest 2006

Students Contest

47 students participated in the contest, with 5 students submitting two papers. The same guidelines were applied this year to the review of all the papers; each paper was reviewed by at least two judges. When the scores of the two judges were more than 2 points apart, a third judge reviewed the paper. 27 judges expressed their preferences in the written competition and each judge reviewed at least two papers. For each judge the scores were normalized. The total score for the paper was the average of the normalized scores.

At the symposium, 36 presentations and 16 posters were judged.

15 judges expressed their preferences in the presentation competition. Not all students were evaluated by the same judges and not all of them received the same number of votes, but each presentation was judged by at least five judges. The scores were again normalized for each judge and the total score for each presentation was the average of the normalized scores.

Three judges expressed their preferences in the poster competition. Not all students were evaluated by the same judges and not all of them received the same number of votes since some students were not available to discuss their work during the poster sessions, but each poster was judged by at least one judge. As for the presentations, the scores were normalized for each judge and the total score for each poster was the average of the normalized scores.

For the special awards, four judges were involved. Each judge subjectively selected and ranked up to 5 students as the possible winners of a special award. Following the guidelines, each special award was given to the highest-ranking student that did not yet win any other award. The only exception was the President Award,: this year given to the student with the highest combined written and poster/oral presentation scores.