RULES AND REGULATIONS
CONTEST GUIDELINES
This competition will be held in the following categories:
- Dairy Foods Division
- Dairy Production Division
- Original Research/Independent Study
ELIGIBILITY
Contestants must be USD members of ADSA who are enrolled in a program granting the baccalaureate degree or who have received the degree during the previous seven months. Students who have completed one quarter or semester of graduate studies are not eligible.
Only one contestant per institution may be entered in each of three categories: Dairy Foods Division, Production Division, and Original Research. One institution, therefore, may have up to three entrants, each in a separate category.
Students who were awarded first place in a paper (oral) competition the previous year are not eligible to compete again in the same category. The categories may include Production, Dairy Foods, or Original Research. However, students are allowed to compete in a different contest category in subsequent years.
For those students whose chapter participates in the Chapter Award contest, maximum points will be awarded for an institution with entrants in two out of the three presentation divisions (Dairy Foods, Production, or Original Research). Dairy Foods and Production points are earned through oral presentations; Original Research points can be earned through either paper (oral) presentation or poster presentation.
SUBJECT OF PRESENTATION
Choice of subject matter is open to the student, but should be relevant to the issues of our industry today and of general interest to all. Reporting of original research will only be accepted in the Original Research category. Dairy Foods and Production will not accept original research. Any paper that does not fit into one of the three categories will be disqualified.
PROCEDURE FOR ENTERING COMPETITION
Each chapter may submit three applications as outlined under the eligibility section. We suggest that each chapter conduct a local contest to select the representative who will enter the national competition.
To enter the contest,
- follow the instructions for submitting an abstract;
- during abstract submission, be sure to select “oral” as your presentation format, and one of the three oral categories for “USD Competition” as your first section preference. Do not select an option for second section preference; and
- upload your ancillary materials as a single PDF or ZIP file in the file-upload step.
In order for the presentation to be eligible for judging, authors should consider a second (eligible) student author on the abstract in case the author is not able to attend or present. It is then the responsibility of the club or faculty advisors to ensure all student authors have contributed in a way that warrants authorship. In the event a student is not listed as a second author, another individual from the dairy club may present the accepted material, and the club may receive points on their chapter scorecard, but the individual would not be eligible for judging.
REQUIRED ANCILLARY MATERIALS
In addition to the abstract, students must submit:
- a letter, signed by their major professor and department head, indicating the desire to enter the contest;
- a brief résumé (include name and preferred pronunciation), address, and telephone number, degrees and dates received, professional work experience, areas of interest or research, scholarships and fellowships received, professional activities and memberships, and other special interests); and
- a headshot photograph.
All ancillary files should be uploaded to the upload section shown during the abstract submission process.
IMPORTANT: The ancillary materials should be uploaded as either a single PDF file that contains all requested materials or a single ZIP file that contains all documents. Do not upload more than one file.
If you are unable to upload the file during abstract submission, please email the letter, a copy of the abstract (including the online submission tracking number), your brief résumé, and a headshot photograph to abstracts@assochq.org.
Abstracts missing ancillary materials will be ineligible for competition.
PRESENTATION
PLACE AND CONDITIONS OF PRESENTATION
Contestants will give an oral presentation of a prepared paper at specially scheduled sessions of the USD meetings held on Monday, June 28, 2027.
The paper is expected to be the student’s own work. In preparing the presentation, the student is expected to have received advice from their major professor.
LIMITS TO PRESENTATION
The oral presentation should be eight- to twelve-minutes long. The judges may make two-point deductions for each minute or fraction of a minute above or below the time limit. There will be up to a three-minute period for the judges to ask questions.
USE OF VISUAL AIDS
Contestants may use prepared charts or slides. Each session room will be equipped with a computer and an LCD projector. Presentation files must be compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint. Files can be uploaded through the abstract system in advance of the meeting or uploaded on-site by 5:00 p.m. on the day before your presentation. No files will be accepted in the session room. The use of a personal laptop for presentation will not be permitted.
PRELOADING
Presentation files will be submitted prior to the meeting to allow staff to prepare for each session ahead of time. The upload dates will be provided closer to the time abstracts are accepted.
Presentation questions should be directed to USD Competition Chair Dale Olver.
EVALUATION
SCORECARDS
The criteria used for judging all three contests are posted to the meeting website and included below.
EVALUATION OF PRESENTATIONS
Three judges will evaluate the presentation. It is recommended that the judge panel consists of two advisors and one student affiliate member whose chapter is not represented in the contest. If all chapters are represented, a national officer may become the third judge. No judge will be selected from a university represented in the contest. The USD Officer-at-Large will chair the committee with assistance from the USD Second Year Advisor.
Each judge will evaluate each presentation individually using the officially accepted Undergraduate Oral Presentation Competition scorecard. At the conclusion of the competition, the judges will meet with one member of the Student Affiliate Committee (ex officio capacity) to select the award winners. The judges’ decision will be final.
The Production, Dairy Foods, and Original Research awards are $100.00 (first place), $50.00 (second place), and $25.00 (third place), along with certificates for each place within a division.