Starting in 2027, the Nerdstock Prize will be awarded to the most influential interdisciplinary discovery which has been published and verified over the previous twelve months. The contest will be annual, with the submission period beginning each year on March 1st and ending March 1st of the next year. Think of it as the Nobel Prize but for an interdisciplinary discipline.
Each applicant will provide an abstract of the project and what he or she intends to do at the beginning of the competition. The scope can be as wide or narrow as he or she wants. The more ambitious the scope, the more likely the project will receive a high level award. At the end of the contest, the applicant will report the results, which will be verified by the award committee.
Award Levels
There will be several levels for this award. If fewer than 4 projects compete for a level, levels will be combined until there is a group of adjacent levels with at least 4 projects. Those projects will compete with each other, and the winner will receive an award appropriate for that level.
If Silver has to merge with Bronze or Gold to meet the 4 project cutoff, it merges with Bronze first and then Gold. The only exception is if the total from Silver plus Gold meets the cutoff and Silver plus Bronze does not.
BRONZE MEDAL: The project has to cover at least 2 unrelated disciplines and has to be fully completed during that year. If more than one project meets this criterion, the one which has the highest impact will receive the award.
SILVER MEDAL: Same as above, but with 3-5 unrelated disciplines.
GOLD MEDAL: Same as above, but with 6 or more unrelated disciplines.
ROENTGENIUM MEDAL: A special medal given for lifetime achievement or if a discovery related to the project wins the Nobel Prize or its disciplinary equivalent. The vast majority of award ceremonies will not include this particular prize. Yes, roentgenium is an actual element, appearing underneath gold in the periodic table. It is one of those elements produced in atom smashers with a half-life of a few zillionths of the a second.
STEEL MEDAL: This one is slightly different. It will go to the project which did second-worst in achieving their results, yet did indeed make SOME progress. This award will encourage people to shoot for the moon, so to speak, and try to achieve major contributions in science and arts even if they are unlikely to succeed. It encourages risk-taking, and will be given to the second-worst competitor to ensure that an applicant does not “tank” (deliberately lose badly in order to receive the award).
If a project succeeds but does not use all of the disciplines it intends to use, it will be reassigned to the award which uses that number of disciplines. For instance, if a Gold candidate plans to use 6 awards but actually uses 4, it will no longer be eligible for Roentgenium and will be moved into the Gold Medal territory.
Prizes
The prizes will take the form of actual medals whose colors match the metals in their name. The Roentgenium Medal will produced out of fluorite or another fluorescent material which glows in the dark from time to time.
The top three finalists for each prize (other than the Steel Prize), as chosen by the prize committee, will be presented at the Nerdstock festival each year. The attendees will then vote on them using ranked choice voting to determine the winner.
All winners will be announced on the Nerdstock website: free advertising cannot hurt. However, the prize will start out with no financial award. At some point, a prize fund will be established to provide a financial reward for the winners.
Any prize funds will be distributed with the following ratios. If a prize is not awarded, it will be taken out of the picture and the money will be remain in the pool, to be used by future awards. The only prize guaranteed to be awarded each year is the Steel.
Gold: 40 percent
Silver: 20 percent
Bronze: 10 percent
Steel: 30 percent
Divisions
There will be several divisions in the Nerdstock Prize competition, each with its own set of awards. Each applicant must specify the division in which he or she intends to compete. If a competitor applies for a division other than Open, proof of age will be required.
OPEN DIVISION: Anyone can enter this division.
COLLEGE: Applicants must be less than 25 years old as of March 31st of the year the award is given out.
HIGH SCHOOL: Applicants must be in high school at that time.
ELEMENTARY: Applicants must be in elementary school at that time.
The money intended for the award pool will be split into divisions as follows.
Open Division: 60 percent
College: 25 percent
High School: 10 percent
Elementary: 5 percent
Here is a table indicating how $10,000 in prize funds would be distributed, assuming all prizes are awarded. There will likely be more than this available at some point, so these may look lower than what is actually awarded.
Open Gold: $2,400
Open Silver: $1,200
Open Bronze: $600
Open Steel: $1,800
College Gold: $1,000
College Silver: $500
College Bronze: $250
College Steel: $750
High School Gold: $400
High School Silver: $200
High School Bronze: $100
High School Steel: $300
Elementary Gold: $200
Elementary Silver: $100
Elementary Bronze: $50
Elementary Steel: $150
If there are no entries in a given division, the funds are redistributed among the remaining divisions. For instanced if there is no High School entry, 60/90 will go to the Open Division, 25/90 to the College Division, and 5/90 to the Elementary Division.
Restrictions
Members of the Nerdstock board cannot enter the competition, and if competitors attend Nerdstock they cannot vote for themselves. However, they will be allowed to rank the other two competitors (in which case it counts as a ranked choice vote where not all of the candidates receive votes).
People may contribute to more than one entry. However, if they do so, those entries are not eligible for the Steel Medal.
At most 10 people may contribute to an entry. If more than one person contributes to an entry, the participant who contributes the most to the entry may not contribute more than twice any other member’s contribution.
Award Timing Schedule
These dates take effect with the 2028 award, For 2029, increment all the years by 1. For 2030, increment the years by 2, and so forth.
For 2027 things will be slightly different.
MARCH 2027: Project submissions have to be in by the 31st. For the 2027 award, since we are starting late, they have to be in by August 31st, 2026.
JUNE 2027: Project submissions must be due by the end of June.
MARCH 2028: Projects must be completed and handed over to the prize committee.
MAY 2028: Prize committee determines the finalists.
JUNE 2028: The finalists present at Nerdstock and the award is given out at the end of the event. If a project cannot be presented in person (or demonstrated in person), ALL candidates must present remotely as to not put that submission at a disadvantage.
