IFSA at IUFRO24: Blog Competition

Background

The IUFRO World Congress is a significant event in the forestry field that unites researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and stakeholders worldwide to exchange knowledge on forest research, management, and conservation. Organised by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO), the Congress takes place every five years. This year, the event will occur in Stockholm, Sweden, from 23–29 June 2024.

IUFRO is one of IFSA’s oldest and most engaged formal partners. With the IUFRO World Congress around the corner, IFSA is organising a blog competition as a means to inspire broad audience participation, bolster the goals of the IUFRO World Congress, and establish a forum for collaborative efforts towards a sustainable future for forestry, climate, and society.

Objectives

  • Commemorate the days leading up to the IUFRO World Congress 2024.
  • Raising public awareness of forests’ critical role in environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

Timeline

  • May 16, 2024: Announcement to Web and Social Media
  • May 16, 2024–May 23, 2024: Submission
  • May 17, 2024: Announcement to LCs
  • May 24, 2024–Jun 7, 2024: Assessment period
  • Jun 8, 2024–Jun 14, 2024: Publication to IFSA website
  • Jun 17, 2024: Winner announcement

Assessment Criteria

Contents (40%)

  • Relevance to the IUFRO WC chosen theme.
  • Relevance to the questions provided.

Argument delivery (20%)

  • How the message is being conveyed in the blog.

Writing (language and vocabulary) (20%)

Mechanics (punctuation, numbers, letters, template) (20%)

Rules & Submission

Theme

The theme for this competition follows the theme from IUFRO World Congress 2024.

  1. Theme 1: Strengthening forest resilience and adaptation to stress
  2. Theme 2: Towards a responsible forest bioeconomy
  3. Theme 3: Forest biodiversity and its ecosystem services
  4. Theme 4: Forests for sustainable societies
  5. Theme 5: Forests for the future

Rules & Mechanisms

  1. This competition is FREE and open to the general public.
  2. Each individual can submit up to three blog posts in the competition. If the blog post is authored as a team by more than one person, all participants must be credited in the article.
  3. The blog post should be an original work and has not been published elsewhere.
  4. The blog post document should be written in English, using Calibri font, 12 pt., 1.5 line spacing, and 800 words maximum using the provided template.
  5. It must be related to the IUFRO World Congress 2024 by choosing one of the abovementioned themes.
  6. Your blog post should address one or more of the following questions:
    1. From your experience, how do forests benefit communities, and which aspects of people’s lives are supported by forests?
    2. What are the challenges for our generation to build resilient forests?
    3. What actions should be taken so that our goal of building resilient forests can succeed?
  7. The blog post will be published on the IFSA website as part of the IFSA at the IUFRO World Congress 2024 web page and the official IUFRO World Congress 2024 web page, where it will be carefully reviewed for any potential grammatical or syntactical errors. While the layout may be slightly adjusted for a more enjoyable reading experience, the content itself will remain unchanged.
  8. Once published, no corrections or amendments are allowed for the submitted blog post.
  9. The blog post should be submitted to SUBMISSION FORM with the title BlogComp_AuthorName_Blog Post Title in MS Word or Google Document using the provided template.
  10. Insert where the picture(s) and caption(s) should be placed in the blog post document. The following information should be included:
    1. The placement of picture(s).
    2. The caption under each of the pictures.
    3. The credits for the picture(s). It is advisable not to use pictures with copyrights unless you have permission to use it.
  11. Including a link in the blog post to suggest further readings or to include the unlisted reference is highly recommended.
  12. The announcement of winners will be posted to our social media (@ifsadotnet), and through a notification email from communication@ifsa.net or publication@ifsa.net.

Submission

Submit your blog post to SUBMISSION FORM using the TEMPLATE with BlogComp_AuthorName_Blog Post Title as the subject. All eligible blog posts will be published on the IFSA at the IUFRO World Congress 2024 web page. For further inquiries, please send an email to all.cc@ifsa.net.

Prize

All eligible blogs

  • Posted to the IFSA website under the IFSA at IUFRO WC 2024.

Winner

  • 1st Place: Invited as a speaker to the Canopy Conversation Podcast with the IFSA delegate representative for IUFRO WC.
  • Announced in IFSA’s social media
  • Featured on the IUFRO and IFSA at IUFRO WC 2024 webpage
  • Certificate

Participants

  • Featured on the IFSA at IUFRO WC 2024 webpage
  • Certificate

Best of luck with your application!