Cobb Nematology Foundation Science and Art Contest

The Cobb Foundation is committed to supporting the science of nematology around the world. To encourage creative thinking and facilitate the sharing of educational materials in nematology, the Cobb Foundation has launched a science & art contest. The foundation invites students as well as post-docs to share an aspect of nematology that fascinates them using any art form. All entries will be presented on the Cobb Foundation website and judged for their creativity, understandability, accuracy, and the quality of the presentation. Winning artists will earn cash prizes.

The Cobb Foundation calls for artist and scientists to collaborate on science story-telling through art. It could be a recorded play, recorded music video, educational documentaries including fun educational animation, comic book, coffee table book, models, baked goods and any art form geared towards: (i) Introducing and illustrating the concepts of nematology, (ii) Explaining the role of nematodes in the environment, (iii) Scientific speculation of nematode biology, ecology or evolution (iv) Illustrating the history and milestones in nematology, (v) Any other stories, phenomena or concepts related to nematology.

Eligibility

All graduate students, undergraduate students, and post-doctoral fellows conducting their research in nematology are eligible for the awards. They don’t need to be a member of a nematological society to participate.

Rules

• Subject matter should be clearly related to some aspect of nematology
• Maximum length of video/audio file is five (5) minutes. Creations can also be submitted in PDF format when this is more suitable for the type of work
• Videos can be any style but should be in a format compatible with YouTube.
• The presentation should be in plain language and understandable to an audience unfamiliar with the material (e.g. high school and undergraduate students)
• If the video is silent or when the information is not clearly audible (e.g. painting, dance, …), it must be accompanied by subtitles describing the nematological aspects presented.
• A mention should be made that the video was specifically produced for the Cobb Nematology Foundation Science and Art Contest
• By submitting a video, PDF or audio file, the submitters agree that the material can be used (with proper attribution) by others for teaching, training, etc.
• All entries will be displayed on the Cobb Foundation YouTube channel and/or Cobb Foundation website.
• The contest will be judged by an international panel of nematologists on the following criteria: creativity, understandability to an audience unfamiliar with the material, accuracy of the science, and the quality of the presentation (sound quality, video quality, and editing).
• Participants must register by email to cobbvideocontest@gmail.com and provide a title, brief description, authorship and a link to download the file.
• Entries must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. U.S. eastern time, April 1, 2023.

Awards

First Prize: $350, Second Prize: $150.

All registrants* will receive a free one-year membership to the Society of Nematologists (SON)!

*maximum of 30, on a first-come first-served basis

2022 Cobb Science and Art Entrants

The Foundation received four submissions for the new Science and Art Contest. All the entries were evaluated by an international panel of Nematologists to determine the winners and all participants automatically received a free one-year membership to the SON. Congratulations to all the participants! View all the submissions below.

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Submission by Benjamin Joshua, Oziegbe Emmanuel and Oragbon Nathaniel is composed of a video describing the life and impact of Nathan Cobb, as well as an artistic series of drawings and a poem in honour of nematodes.

See the files as submitted

Authorship: Benjamin Joshua, Georg-August-Universität, Oziegbe Emmanuel, University of Ibadan and Oragbon Nathaniel, University of Ibadan.

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Submission by Lalson Wesly Johnson and Rajaswaminathan Vairavan is entitled Heterorhabditis - A farmer's friendly nematode and is composed of a video covering the life of an entomopathogenic nematode, especially Heterorhabditis and it's symbiotic bacteria in killing the insect pest.

Authorship: Lalson Wesly Johnson, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Rajaswaminathan Vairavan, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University

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Submission by Elisabeth Darling is entitled Nematodes of N.A. Cobb and is composed of nematodes drawings.

Author’s description:

“I had the pleasure of being receiving an original complete copy of N.A. Cobb's book "Contributions to a Science in Nematology: 1914-1935", by Dr. George Bird last semester after taking a seminar class led by him and Dr. Sita Thapa centered on entomological nematology. Through this illustration I constructed, I aimed to revive some of what I believe to be Cobb's most beautiful illustrations from this period of a diverse pool of nematodes. This piece features several prominent featured species: the predatory nematode Mononchus longicaudatus (Cobb,1893), entomopathogenic nematode Howardula benigna (Cobb, 1921), and presumed fungal feeder Bunonema inequale (Cobb, 1915). These nematodes occupy several different roles of the ecological food web and all play an important role in the nema world around us. Constructing this piece in honor of Nathan A. Cobb's contributions was a treat, and hopefully my renditions of these wonderful creatures do his (superior) illustrations justice.”

See the file as submitted

Authorship: Elisabeth "Ellie" Darling, Michigan State University

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Submission by Krisztina Mosdossy is entitled Sometimes nematodes graze and is composed of a rap video that introduces the topic of nematodes as important contributors to nutrient cycling.

See the lyrics

Authorship: Krisztina Mosdossy, McGill University

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2021 Cobb Video Contest Results

The Cobb Foundation is happy to announce the results of the 2021 edition of the video contest.

The Foundation had received high-quality videos that were all very creative! Congratulations to all the participants!

The videos were reviewed by 6 nematologists from 3 different countries and the results are:

First place: Soybean Host Resistance to Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) - A Musical submitted by Deepak Haarith

Second place: Nematode or Plant? A Nutrient Battle submitted by Alexandra Ostezan and Dung Tran

2020 Cobb Video Contest Results

First place: Nematodes and their Natural Enemies submitted by Max Helmberger

Second place: Exploring Nematodes with Deepak Haarith submitted by Deepak Haarith

 

Cobb Video Contest Entrants

View all the submissions to Cobb Foundation Video Contest:

2021 Cobb Video Contest playlist on YouTube

2020 Cobb Video Contest playlist on YouTube