RULES AND REGULATIONS
CONTEST GUIDELINES
This competition will be held in the following categories:
- Dairy Foods Division
- Dairy Production Division
- Original Research/Independent Study
ELIGIBILITY
Contestants must be Undergraduate Student Division (USD) members of ADSA who are enrolled in a program granting the baccalaureate degree or who have received the degree during the previous 7 months. Students who have completed one quarter or semester of graduate studies are not eligible.
Only 1 contestant per institution may be entered in each of 3 categories: Dairy Foods Division, Production Division, and Original Research. One institution, therefore, may have up to 3 entrants, each in a separate category.
Students who were awarded first place in a paper(oral) competition the previous year are not eligible to compete again in the same category. The categories may include Production, Dairy Foods, or Original Research. However, students are allowed to compete in a different contest category in subsequent years.
For those students whose chapter participates in the Chapter Award contest, maximum points will be awarded for an institution with entrants in 2 out of the 3 presentation divisions (Dairy Foods, Production, or Original Research). Dairy Foods and Production points are earned through oral presentations; Original Research division points can be earned through either paper(oral) presentation or poster presentation.
Monetary awards will be awarded to the winners in all categories.
Participants in this competition should plan to attend both the USD Awards Luncheon and the ADSA Awards Program. Check the conference schedule for details.
SUBJECT OF PRESENTATION
Choice of subject matter is open to the student but should be relevant to issues of our industry today and of general interest to all. Reporting of original research will only be accepted in the Original Research category. Dairy Foods and Production will not accept original research. Any paper that does not fit into one of the three categories will be disqualified.
PROCEDURE FOR ENTERING COMPETITION
Please refer to the Annual Meeting Abstracts page for more information.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: February 12, 2025
Each chapter may submit 3 applications as outlined under the eligibility section for this competition. We suggest that each chapter conduct a local contest to select the representative who will enter the national competition.
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
All abstracts must be submitted electronically following the instructions in the online abstract submission form.
It is the responsibility of every student entering the competition to review the ADSA Abstract Submission Instructions.
It will not be possible to submit abstracts after the deadline. When you submit your abstract, you will be given a tracking number and password. Make a note of these; they will allow you to revise your submitted abstract at any time before the deadline.
When submitting your abstract, be sure to select “Oral” as your Presentation Format, and one of the 3 ORAL categories for “USD Competition” as your First Section Preference. Do not select an option for Second Section Preference.
Space limitations allow a maximum of 2,300 characters. Abstracts that are too long will be rejected automatically by the system. It is recommended that all abstract components (title, body, and table) be copied directly from a word processing file. The formatting and special characters will carry over into the abstract system.
Abstract Requirements: In order to have the presentation eligible for judging, authors should consider a second (eligible) student author on the abstract in the case the author is not able to attend/present. It is then the responsibility of the club/faculty advisors to ensure all students authors have contributed in a way that warrants authorship. In the event a student is not listed as a second author, another individual from the dairy club may present the accepted material and the club may receive points on their chapter scorecard, but the individual would not be eligible for judging.
REQUIRED ANCILLARY MATERIALS
In addition to the abstract, students must submit:
- a letter indicating the desire to enter the contest, signed by their major professor and department head, as well as
- a brief résumé [include name, address, and cell phone number, areas of interest or research, scholarships received, professional activities and memberships, and other special interests], and
- a headshot photograph
All ancillary files should be uploaded to the upload section shown during the abstract submission process.
IMPORTANT: The ancillary materials should be uploaded as either a single PDF file that contains all requested materials or a single ZIP file that contains all documents. Do not upload more than one file.
If the file is unable to be uploaded in the abstract submission, please email the letter, one copy of the abstract, including the online submission tracking number, a brief résumé, and a headshot/photograph, to abstracts@assochq.org.
Abstracts missing Ancillary Materials will be ineligible for competition.
COMPETITION SUBMISSION PROCEDURES
If, after reading these instructions, you have any questions regarding abstract submission to the Undergraduate Student Competitions, please send an email to abstracts@assochq.org.
PRESENTATION
PLACE AND CONDITIONS OF PRESENTATION
Contestants will make an oral presentation of a prepared paper at specially scheduled sessions of the Undergraduate Student Division Meetings, to be held on the first day of meeting activities.
The paper is expected to be the student’s own work. In preparing the presentation, the student is expected to have such advice from their major professor.
LIMITS TO PRESENTATION
The oral presentation should be 8 to 12 minutes long. The judges may make 2-point deductions for each minute or fraction of a minute above or below the time limit. There will be up to a 3-minute period for the judges to ask questions.
USE OF VISUAL AIDS
Contestants may use prepared charts or slides. Each session room will be equipped with a computer and an LCD projector. Presentation files must be compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. Files can be uploaded through the abstract system in advance of the meeting or accepted onsite by 5 p.m. on the day before your presentation. No files will be accepted in the session room. The use of a personal laptop for presentation will not be permitted.
PRELOADING
Presentation files will be submitted prior to the meeting to allow staff to prepare for each session ahead of time. The specific dates will be provided closer to the time abstracts are accepted.
Presentation questions should be directed to USD Competition Chair Grace Lewis.
EVALUATION
SCORECARDS
The criteria used for judging all three contests are posted to the meeting website and included below.
EVALUATION OF PRESENTATION
Three judges will evaluate the presentation. It is recommended to use 2 advisors and 1 student affiliate member whose chapter is not represented in the contest. If all chapters are represented, a national officer may become the third judge. No judge will be selected from a university represented in the contest. The USD Officer-at-Large will chair the committee, and the USD Second Year Advisor will help.
Each judge will evaluate each presentation individually using the officially accepted Undergraduate Oral Presentation Competition scorecard. At the conclusion of the competition, these judges will meet with one member of the Student Affiliate Committee (ex officio capacity) to select the award winners. The judges’ decision will be final.
The awards in the Production, Dairy Foods, and Original Research divisions are $100.00 (first place), $50.00 (second place), and $25.00 (third place), along with certificates for each place within a division.