Each year, students are encouraged to submit extended abstracts for the SCB Student Awards program. Abstracts are rated for: 1) relevance to conservation, 2) scientific merit, and 3) presentation [that is, did you follow the format and was it well-organized]. The student awards subcommittee selects 10 to 15 finalists to present their oral papers at the Annual Meeting. These presentations are judged on the 3 criteria listed above. Each judge attends all the talks. Monetary awards are provided to all finalists.

We encourage you to attend this year’s student award finalist presentations and to participate in future years.

Student award candidates (restricted to 15-minute oral presentations, no posters, no speed presentations) must submit two (2) abstracts.

BOTH abstracts should be submitted online by January 23 and formatted according to the instructions provided.

Your first abstract will be submitted following the instructions to submit abstracts (see INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING ABSTRACTS) and following the submission pages.

The extended abstract needs to be uploaded during the submission process. You may upload one document of the following formats: Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, Word Perfect, Plain Text, Rich Text Format(rtf). Both text and figures of the extended abstract should be saved in a single document, which you must upload.

The extended abstract should have a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 800 words. The abstract must include a minimum of 1 (one) figure and a maximum of three (3) figures or tables (total, not three figures and three tables).

- Presentation title
- Names and complete contact information for all authors and the roles of each author if you have two or more authors on the abstract you are submitting
- The student must be the primary author and must submit the abstract under that name. In other words, please make certain that the name of the student applying for the award and the name of the primary author are identical.
- Degree pursued or date of defense, for those who already have received a Ph.D.
- Current students and students with a graduation date of July 1 2008 or later are eligible to apply.

Abstracts that are not submitted according to these guidelines will not be accepted. In recent years, the rejection rate has been approximately 85%. Many abstracts have been rejected simply because these instructions were not followed.