Rules

• The contest is open to university students from seventeen (17) to twenty two (22) years old. This concerns university students born on or between 1st April 1994 and 31st March 2000.
• Explorers should be enrolled in a university degree course during the academic year 2016-2017.
• Explorers compete as individuals, or in pairs and they may choose to be advised by a mentor on scientific and technical aspects of their project entry.
• All contestants must submit an original space related project based on the themes and challenges specified for Explorers category.
• Contestants on Explorers category may submit a digital entry between 1st September 2016 and 31st March 2017.
• All entries submitted must be the contestants’ own work, carried out specifically for this contest.
• ‘Explorer’ projects will be evaluated in three stages:
  • Nationally, by a panel of judges from the participants’ own country, based on the online submissions. This will take place in April 2017. Submissions from non-EU countries will be assigned by the organizers to one of the panels of judges, according to the language selected by the participants.
  • Regionally, by a selection of judges from the previous round, drawn from all participating countries in the region. Judging will take place at the semi-finals held in each region, which will bring together all the national winners within the region. Contestants may be invited to the regional events on the condition that their entry is marked with at least 10 out of 20 in the first phase. The contestants advanced to the semi-finals will present live their entries to the judges. Regional semi-finals will take place between 20 April and 30 June 2017. Exact dates per region will be announced in the Odysseus website.
  • Internationally, by a panel of prominent space researchers, educators and science personalities. The winners of the regional finals will meet in Toulouse, France to present their projects to the judges. The international final will take place in July 2017.
• During the judging at national level, the number of winners going onto the next level of judging will be determined by the relative populations of the competing countries and the number of submissions per each topic. The Odysseus II Contest organizers will announce all winners at national and regional level, via the Odysseus website.
• During the selection of the best projects at international level, honours are awarded without regard to the citizenship or residency of the finalists. i.e. there are no pre-set quotas based on population or rates of contest participation.
• Judges of the space projects will award points for the following criteria (the exact percentages assigned to each attribute will be announced on the website before the start of registrations):
  • Academic excellence (accuracy, difficulty)
  • Relevance to the stated theme
  • Problem-solving abilities
  • Originality
  • Social relevance
  • Presentation
  • Technical merit and practical skills
  • Sustainability and environmental awareness
• Each contestant will be provided with a summary of the judges’ evaluation of their project at the time of judging. Later requests for further evaluations cannot be honoured.
• Judges will also distribute a number of special citations to non-winning teams at each stage, for example:
  • Most eye-catching graphic
  • Most original problem
  • Most professional presentation
  • Most artistic submission
  • Best use of music in a science project
  • Most innovative approach to the stated theme
  • Most environmentally aware project
  • Most innovative solution to the problem
  • Best usage of space knowledge basics
• Every Explorer pair, or solo Explorer contestant, will receive a diploma for participation in the Odysseus II contest.
• All winning projects will be displayed in full in the Hall of Fame area of the Odysseus II Contest website and all participants advanced to the semi-finals will be awarded a winners medallion and a set of Odysseus II contest memorabilia.
• It is free to participate in the contest and travel expenses (plane tickets, accommodation, set meals and insurance) for participating in regional and European finals will be covered by the Odysseus II Contest organizers, within reasonable limits.
• At both the regional and international finals the finalists will participate in a number of space-based activities, events and trips, arranged and paid for by the Odysseus II Contest organizers.

Explorer contestants may seek help from a mentor for technical and scientific advice.