Student/Postdoc Travel and Competition Awards Details
How to Apply
Applying is easy, since the award application is part of the abstract submission process. Submit your abstract and apply for an award at the same time before the abstract submission deadline (December 4, 2023.) To be eligible, when submitting your abstract, be sure to:
- Renew your AAA membership for 2024 or join as a new member
- Fill out the appropriate responses when you get to the "Awards" page of the abstract submission site.
Submitting a Winning Entry
- Read and follow all eligibility requirements and guidelines below.
- Reference the abstract scoring rubric (new). See details below.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must:
- Be a Student or Postdoc member of AAA (Join now!)
- Pay 2024 dues in full by Dec 4, 2023
- Be the first author on the abstract
- Attend Anatomy Connected to present your research
Guidelines
- Presenting authors may only designate one abstract for award consideration. If more than one abstract is put forward for the competition, only the first submission will be considered.
- Oral and poster presentations that are research focused (i.e., non-descriptive works) will be prioritized over descriptive works and given more consideration when selecting competition award finalists. While the submission of descriptive works is encouraged, please recognize that the evaluation of scientific and educational research presentations relies heavily on the tenets of the scientific process as a guide to compare and judge the quality of presentations.
- Applicants have the opportunity to compete for a platform or poster award within their academic level, in addition to receiving a Travel Award. Abstracts are pre-judged to determine finalists in each category.
- The $300 Travel Award is for all new members. The $400 Travel Award is for members with more than 1 consecutive year of membership (without a lapse in membership).
- Only applications with confirmed abstracts will be considered.
- Awards are non-transferable and no substitution of first author/presenter is allowed.
- Recipients and competition finalists will be notified about eight weeks after the abstract deadline.
- Judges may withhold specific awards at their discretion.
- Travel Awards are distributed at the meeting after your poster or oral presentation. Cancellations or no-shows will not receive a travel award.
- Competition Awards are presented at the Closing Awards Ceremony at the meeting. All Travel Award recipients will receive a discounted ticket to attend and additional tickets may be purchased online prior to the meeting. Only competitive award finalists will receive a complimentary ticket to the Awards Ceremony.
- Authors are not permitted to submit an abstract on previously published work unless the abstract represents further progression of the published research.
New: Abstract Scoring Rubric
To establish consistency and rigor in the abstract review process, we have developed an abstract scoring rubric.
The scoring rubric was devised in order to ensure high scientific
quality and importance, incorporate a rigorous scientific review
process, and maintain consistency across reviewers.
The scoring rubric will be used to score 1) all educational abstracts
and 2) all abstracts (educational and scientific) submitted to
Student/Postdoc Registration and Competition Awards. It is expected that
all applicants will review the scoring rubric in advance of submitting their abstract. In summary, abstracts will be score in the following categories:
- Introduction & Objective
– (5 points) Was the research question/objective stated clearly? The
introduction should provide context to your reader, an introduction to
your topic and its importance, and your study objective, question, or
hypothesis, whichever is appropriate.
- Materials and Methods –
(5 points) Was the approach/method for answering the question stated
clearly and is it appropriate to the study? The materials and methods
section should include brief, clear statements of the appropriate
methods used to conduct the study. Keep this as straightforward as you
can. If the methods were unusual or novel describe in slightly more
detail.
- Results – (10
points) Were the results clearly stated and placed in their appropriate
context? A summary of the most important results must be included. Key
findings should be clear, concise, and explicit. Results should include
supporting data. Lack of results with supporting data will lead to your
abstract score being lowered for this section. Include appropriate
statistics to support claims of significance.
- Conclusion – (5
points) Did the conclusion clearly communicate the take-home message
from the study and did it relate to the study objective(s)?
- Significance/Implication –
(10 points) Did the author effectively communicate the significance of
the results? This section should also include the
importance/significance of the findings, and directions for future work
and next steps. This is your opportunity to describe the significance of
your findings to science and/or the translation of your findings to
progress in your field.
Oral and Poster Competition Award Scoring Rubric
Up to 48 Students and Postdocs will be competing for poster and oral presentation awards in the following categories: Education Research, Graduate Student , Postdoc and Undergraduate Student. Below are the guidelines/tips and scoring rubric that the award judges will be following.
Presentation Guidelines for Platform Award Finalists
Presentation Guidelines for Poster Award Finalists