The Texas Student Research Showdown is a video competition for undergraduate researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Student researchers create videos communicating their research or creative activity to a general audience. As selected by a panel of faculty judges, the top two videos in two categories (arts, humanities, and social sciences; science, technology, and engineering) will receive $1500 and $500 awards, and an audience choice winner selected by UT students will receive $1000. The Office of Undergraduate Research offers support at every step of the process.
View the 2024 submissions here.
Why should I enter?
Student researchers are rarely trained to communicate effectively about their work in terms of its relevance, but throughout their careers, they’ll have to be able to talk to non-experts about why their research is important. We want to help UT’s top students explain their discoveries—and tell their stories as researchers—to this general audience.
Regardless of whether your video is selected as a winning entry, all students will have a two-minute video to show for their efforts that explains their work to friends, family, grad school committees, and future employers.
Who can enter?
The Showdown is open to any UT undergraduate involved in research or creative activity in any major—science, engineering, humanities, social sciences, fine arts, business, and every other discipline. Your work can be an independent project or a collaboration with a professor or lab to which you have made substantive contributions. Group submissions are encouraged! Just be sure to confirm that everyone with a stake in the project agrees to enter the competition, and have all student EIDs on hand when you submit the video. If a group project receives any award money, it will be divided evenly among group members who are currently enrolled UT undergraduates. Even if your project is still in progress, we encourage you to consider a submission.
The event features two categories:
- Arts, humanities, and social sciences
- Science, technology, and engineering
Contact uresearch@austin.utexas.edu if you have questions about where your submission might best fit.
How do I enter?
- Upload your video (two minutes maximum!) as a publicly accessible YouTube video
- Read the full rules and submit your video by the submission deadline of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024.