BSPP Undergraduate Prizes

The BSPP wishes to encourage and reward undergraduate students interested in plant pathology. We also wish to publicly recognise the achievements of these students.

We invite universities (and other higher education institutions offering Level 6 courses) throughout the country to take part.

Each year, participating institutions will be asked to nominate their best student or students for two separate awards. All students nominated in this way will be awarded a small prize, a prize certificate and will be publicly recognised on the BSPP website. However, winning students from each institution will be entered into a wider competition across all institutions in the United Kingdom. The winners of these national competitions will be awarded a larger cash prize, a small trophy and membership of the BSPP. They will be invited to receive these prizes at the BSPP Presidential Meeting.

The awards are:

• The BSPP prize for best undergraduate research in plant pathology
  For best dissertation, literature review or research project.

• The BSPP prize for examination performance in plant pathology
  For best performance in a final year exam paper or module.

Previous Winners

2021 Undergraduate Prize winners – BSPP – The British Society for Plant Pathology

2022 Undergraduate Prize winners – BSPP – The British Society for Plant Pathology

The deadline for 2023 submissions was the 31st July 2023.

Rules

• Students must be in the final year of a Level 6 qualification (i.e. an undergraduate degree or equivalent) at an institution in the United Kingdom.
• The prize for undergraduate research can only be awarded for a dissertation, literature review or research project focusing on plant pathology (and must have been graded at least as a first-class mark, or grade A, or equivalent).
• The prize for undergraduate performance can only be awarded based on performance in an exam paper or module focusing entirely or in significant part on plant pathology (and again, the relevant exam paper or module must have been graded at least as a first-class mark, or grade A, or equivalent).
• Certain institutions might therefore only be able to enter a student for one or other of the prizes.

How to enter

Following the examination and marking process at each institution, nominators are requested to enter the details of their best student(s) on the form below. The nominating academic will be asked to write a short – 250 word – statement detailing each nominee’s achievements. All eligible students nominated in this way will be awarded the prize for the institution in question. The BSPP Education Committee will award the national prize in each category based on the statement by the nominating academic, and the extent to which the research project/examination performance can be judged to focus on plant pathology.

Prizes

The winner of each of the two prizes from each institution will be awarded a £50 book token, a formal certificate which can be presented at their graduation ceremony and will have their names listed as BSPP Prize Winners on the BSPP website. Awardees will be styled as the winners of “The BSPP prize for best undergraduate research in plant pathology at <Institution Name>” and the “The BSPP prize for examination performance in plant pathology at <Institution Name>”.

The winners of the two UK-wide prizes will additionally receive £250, a small trophy and free membership of the BSPP for the next two years. These individuals will be styled as the winners of “The BSPP prize for best undergraduate research in plant pathology in the UK” and the “The BSPP prize for examination performance in plant pathology  in the UK”.