Ciencia Jot Down

Jot Down Ciencia Contest

Since 2015, DIPC has been collaborating with the cultural magazine Jot Down as a sponsor of its science section and annual science popularisation competition. Over the years, the categories of the contest have diversified and consolidated as a reference platform for those who want to tell science with creativity and rigour.

In 2025, the contest celebrates its twelfth edition under the theme "Critical Elements: from Tungsten to Rare Earths", a proposal that invites reflection on the essential materials for today's technological development, such as neodymium, dysprosium, or tungsten itself. The call for submissions is open until July 31 and includes four categories: photography, illustration, popular science article, and short story.

The contest is sponsored by Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC), and the Laboratorium Museum of Bergara, with the collaboration of the University of Seville, Jot Down, Mercurio and Menéame magazine.

Information about the competition     See all winners

Ciencia Jot Down Event

The awards ceremony is held each year as part of Jot Down Ciencia, an event open to the general public that blends science communication, literature, and art. The program includes talks, panel discussions, and book presentations led by Jot Down contributors, scientists, science communicators, and guest artists.

Although it has traditionally been held in Seville, the event has travelled to different cities in recent years:

• 2021 – Donostia / San Sebastián
• 2022 – Jaca
• 2024 – Donostia / San Sebastián

This year, the event will take place in Bergara, in collaboration with the Laboratorium Museoa, in the same building where, in 1783, the Elhuyar brothers isolated tungsten for the first time. Under the slogan “Critical Elements: from Tungsten to Rare Earths”, the programme will include talks, workshops, guided tours and activities for all audiences.

More information about the event

Previous editions:

Edition 2024 ‘Hominids’ Donostia / San Sebastián

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The competition and the event were dedicated to hominids, the primate family that includes modern humans (Homo sapiens) and their direct ancestors, as well as other close extinct relatives. The programme included different formats with lectures, interviews and panel discussions with leading researchers in the fields of palaeoanthropology, archaeology, human evolution, physics and geology. The programme also included complementary activities designed for children and families.

Edition 2021 ‘Synergies’ Donostia / San Sebastián

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The central focus of the 2021 event and competition was “synergies” in recognition of the NEXT-BOLD project and the scientist and Jot Down collaborator Juan José Gómez Cadenas, Ikerbasque researcher at the DIPC, who, together with Fernando Cossio, chemist at the UPV/EHU and president of Ikerbasque and Roxanne Guenette, physicist at Harvard University, received an ERC Synergy grant in 2020, endowed with 9.3 million euros. The meeting brought together some of the best-known faces of science, illustration and popularisation with a dynamic programme that included short talks, a round table on science and comics, and the award ceremony of the science popularisation competition.

Publications

During these years, the DIPC and Jot Down have jointly published the books ‘El dilema Turing y otros textos científicos’ and ‘Cañones de wolframio y otros textos científicos’, which bring together some of the most outstanding works submitted to the competition.

Cañones de Wolframio y otros textos científicos

El dilema Turing y otros textos científicos