Q: What is Odysseus?
A: Odysseus is a European project, co-founded by the European Commission. Its main objective is the organization of a pan-European competition for secondary education students on Space exploration and in particular on the themes of Solar System, Spaceship global cooperation and Co-evolution of life.
Q: I want to register in the contest – How do I join Odysseus?
A: First of all you should visit the Get Involved section and read the instructions. If you are a student in one of the 28 countries of the EU you should form a team of 2 to 5 students and one teacher as your coach. The team coach will need to register by logging in the Team Registration link, and following the registration link.
Q: How old do I have to be to participate in the Odysseus contest?
A: Participants should be 14 to 18 years old on the day of their team’s entry submission. (e.g. if an entry is submitted on the 15th of November 2012, only students born after 15th November 1994 and before 15th November 1998 are eligible to compete.)
Q: Do I need to fulfill any additional requirements to register in the Odysseus contest?
A: Yes your parent or legal guardian should sign and provide to the team coach a permission form allowing you to participate in the Odysseus contest and agreeing on the rules of the contest. In order to be eligible to participate your team should register before the 14th February 2013.
Q: Can you help me put together a team?
Α: You can use the Odysseus blog to connect with other potential participants or include your needs for team members or for specific skills.
Q: Can team members come from different schools?
Α: Yes, team members may come from the same or different schools of the same country.
Q: Can we add more members once we have registered our team?
A: Yes; the team coach can add participants until the 15th of February 2013, while not exceeding the maximum of 5 members per team.
Q: Can I be on more than one team?
A: No; each person can compete only in one team.
Q: In which language do we have to submit our entry?
A: You could submit your entry in any of the following languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish. All the teams, which will qualify to the final round they would have to submit a summary of their project in English. Teams from Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Lichtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine should submit their projects only in English.
Q: Do you have any information about how to create an entry?
A: You are free to select your own topic related to one of the three themes of the contest. You can make your own choice about the form and design of your entry (text, power point presentation, video, prototype, multimedia, experiment etc.), but you are advised to include a Project Worksheet in the template provided, describing the background thinking of your project. You are free to submit as much supporting files as deemed necessary. To view some summary entry’s examples and links to relevant sources about space exploration take a look at the Odysseus Library.
Q: How do we submit an entry?
A: You should upload your entry alongside its summary in the template provided by logging in the Submit your Entry link, and following the instructions.
Q: Can my team submit more than one entry?
A: No. Each team may submit only one entry to the Odysseus contest.
Q: What do I do if I forget my password to the Odysseus Platform?
A: There is a Forgot Your Password link on the Log in page. Click that and our team will then send you a new password to the e-mail address you used for your Odysseus account.
Q: When do we have to submit our entry?
Α: You need to submit your entry by the midnight (CET) of 15th February 2013. Odysseus team recommends that you submit your entry upon completion without waiting until the deadline date.
Q: Can you help my team uploading our entry to the Odysseus Platform?
A: Yes; you should first take a look at the instructions provided in the Submit your Entry link. If you have questions or want help in uploading your entry, you should contact info@odysseus-contests.eu and our team would help you secure that your entry will be uploaded appropriately.
Q: Will we receive feedback from the evaluators?
A: All teams will receive by email the score and the comments of the evaluators.
Q: What evaluation criteria will be used?
A: For full details on evaluation criteria, please refer to the Evaluation Criteria link.
Q: How many teams will make it to the final round?
A: There will be three winning teams per country. Each country will be represented at the final round by one team per theme (a. Solar System, b. Spaceship global cooperation and c. Co-evolution of life). Therefore, at the final round there will be maximum 28 teams per theme.
Q: How will participants’ voting work?
A: Each team will have the ability to vote through the Odysseus platform for their favorite project, but they couldn’t vote for their own entries. A maximum of one vote will be allocated to each team. The most popular entry will join the three finalists, which will be selected by the Odysseus contest Scientific Committee.
Q: Can I view the other entries submitted in the Odysseus contest?
A: Yes all entries could be viewed in the Odysseus website after the deadline for submitting an entry.
Q: When will I know if my team is selected for the final round?
A: The national winners in each theme of the contest will be announced on 1st February 2013.
Q: How will we be notified if our team wins?
A: Winners will be announced on the Odysseus website on 1st March 2013. We will also get in touch with the coach of your team as soon as the evaluation panel would decide about the finalists and the participants’ voting would be completed.
Q: What are the prizes?
A: The four winning teams will win a free trip to Germany and the Netherlands, where they will have the chance to visit the European Astronaut Centre, the Space Expo and the the European Space Research and Technology Center of ESA and to meet with astronauts, scientists and other participants in the contest. For complete details on the other prizes for winners and national finalists please visit the prize link.