News Release

SfN announces winners of brain awareness video contest

'People’s choice' voting opens Sept. 5

Grant and Award Announcement

Society for Neuroscience

Washington, DC — The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) announced today the winners of the SfN Brain Awareness Video Contest, which highlight engaging videos that educate and inspire the public about the wonders of the brain and mind. SfN also opened voting for the "People's Choice Award," which enables the public to select the most engaging submission and closes Sept. 26. The People's Choice contestants and SfN winners can be found at http://www.sfn.org/BAVideoContest.

The winning video, "The Carrot," was created by Ariana Andrei, Anastasia 'Stacy' Eriksson, and Marcello Mulas at The University of Texas at Houston. It follows a girl studying Italian. Sock-puppets represent different regions of the brain. The puppets animate how visual areas identify an object, language areas find the object's name and translate it into Italian, and decision-making areas coordinate the girl's response.

"Neuroscience is making extraordinary progress to understand how the brain functions and drives our daily actions, and the Brain Awareness video contest is a great way to help share the wonders of the 'universe between our ears,'" said Jim McNamara, chair of SfN's Public Education and Communication Committee. "The videos are great tools for educators to use in the classroom and for the general public as well, and we thank all those who submitted these creative and engaging videos."

Second prize in the video contest went to Jaime Tartar and Tatiana Viena from Nova Southeastern University, Fla, for "One Family Different Clocks: A tale of the brain, genes, and sleep cycles," third prize to Sebastian Vasquez Lopez from Newcastle University for "An Ocean of Sensations," and honorable mention went to Kenneth Dyson from Université de Montréal and his sons Taj and Deszmo (12 and 6 years old) for "Using Your Brain."

Winning videos will join the content of BrainFacts.org, a public information initiative of The Kavli Foundation, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and SfN. The website offers nearly 1,000 resources about the brain and nervous system, both how it works and helps navigate our complex world, as well as how it can go awry in diseases and disorders.

The video contest is one of many ways the neuroscience community participates in the worldwide Brain Awareness campaign. Launched by the Dana Foundation in 1996, the global coalition of Brain Awareness partners now includes more than 2,000 universities, elementary and secondary schools, hospitals, patient groups, museums, government agencies, service organizations, and professional associations.

Cash prizes will be provided to the creators of the top three videos and the People's Choice Award, plus recognition at SfN's annual meeting, Neuroscience 2012. With more than 30,000 attendees, the meeting is the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health. The first place winner also receives a travel award to attend Neuroscience 2012, held this year in New Orleans.

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For more information about the Brain Awareness campaign or video contest, visit BrainFacts.org.


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