The 2011 Prince Philip Award and Marsh Prize

• to encourage students to see biology as a relevant and exciting field of study
• to encourage students to make the step from learning to investigation
• to recognise excellence and contribution to science.

The winner receives a certificate and a monetary prize of £600, generously donated by the Marsh Christian Trust, and the winner’s school or college receives a medal and certificate.

Guidelines for entrants (87 KB)

The entry should be a written account of original practical work involving some aspect of animal biology, e.g. behaviour, physiology or ecology. Students identify one or two simple problems to solve rather than try to 'discover everything' about the animals being investigated.

The project should be about 3000 words and include photo, tables and graphs. Your introduction should explain the aims of the study and record relevant background reading.

Experimental results should be replicated where possible and appropriate controls used. The interpretation and discussion of results should include consideration of the limitations of the work undertaken. The project should be of a standard comparable with A-level projects or Higher.

Presentation

The study should be presented in the customary way in which scientific work is published; generic and specific names should be underlined or italicised; graphs should be fully labelled and the units given.

The nature and the extent of any help received should be specified; published material should also be acknowledged and references given.

Long tables of results and their statistical treatment should be included in the appendices, not in the main work.

Rules

Entrants must be under 19 years of age on 1st January of the year of entry and must be/have been pupils of a school/college in the UK.

Head teachers and senior science staff are asked to select entries of an appropriate standard. An entry may be the work of one individual or a joint project from not more than two pupils.

Entries must be received by 30 November 2010

Each entry must be accompanied by a letter from the Head Teacher giving:

• the pupil's full name
• the pupil's address
• the pupil's date of birth
• the name and address of the school/college
• full details of the nature and extent of any assistance given to the pupil

Entries must be sent to:

The Secretary of the Awards Committee
Zoological Society of London
Regent’s Park,
London
NW1 4RY

Judging

Entries will be judged by a panel of scientists and education officers and marked on: accuracy of observation; planning, interpretation; significance of conclusions; style of writing and neatness of presentation.

The pupils submitting winning entries will be announced early in 2011 and the Prince Philip Award and Marsh Prize will be presented to the winning student in June 2011 at the annual ZSL Awards Ceremony.

All entries will be returned to candidates together with feedback on the winning entry.