GENIUS Speech raise awareness and inspires action on environmental issues through persuasive speeches and talks.

Each GENIUS Speech project must be prepared and presented by only one student . To address the GENIUS Speech 2025 topic (see below) from the students country's perspective, students are tasked with recording a one-minute speech, which will be uploaded to YouTube as part of the initial application. The application should show an understanding of the issue by summarizing the answers to the questions below. At the fair, finalist students will deliver a three-minute speech demonstrating their knowledge of the issue, proposing potential solutions, and responding to questions from a panel of judges for six to seven minutes. This process is designed to encourage critical thinking and engagement with real-world environmental challenges.

GENIUS SPEECH 2025 TOPIC | Carbon Trading

Most scientists believe that global climate change is increasingly driven by anthropogenic carbon emissions. One proposed solution is to create carbon markets to allow companies to buy and sell carbon credits and utilize carbon offsets of various types. In theory companies (and the governments of countries) will be able to buy and sell carbon credits. Total credits that are in circulation will be reduced over time, hopefully leading to reductions in total carbon emissions.

How might carbon markets function, and why might they be a solution to increased carbon emissions?

What are important factors that developing countries must consider when utilizing carbon markets?

What are important factors that developed countries must consider when utilizing carbon markets?

What are the inherent difficulties in establishing and maintaining carbon markets?

What are the inherent difficulties in utilizing carbon offsets?

How might carbon offsets help, hinder, or accelerate development in your country?

What are the possible positive side effects of carbon markets for your country?

What are possible negative side effects for your country of carbon markets?

Overall, should your country participate in carbon markets? Why or Why not?

GENIUS SPEECH | APPLICATION RULES

• A speech project must be prepared and submitted by only one student.
• Your project video must be submitted for a complete application. All submissions must have a title.
• The speech project video must be three minutes or less long.
• Student speech in the application video must be in English.
• The speech project video must be uploaded on YouTube with the following title: "GENIUS Olympiad Speech–YEAR: Title of the project". The YouTube link must be submitted during the application process within MEDIA LINK. Please do NOT upload the video itself to the application site; we will watch your video on YouTube for initial evaluation.
• Video recording - Clear voice and audio: Ensure your voice is loud and clear, with minimal background noise.
• Video recording - Don’t read from a screen or paper: Speak naturally to engage your audience.
• Video recording - Record full body: Make sure the camera captures your entire body for a professional appearance.
• Video recording - Look at the camera: Maintain eye contact by looking directly into the camera to connect with your viewers and judges.
• All projects must be submitted in their final format.
• Your video project file name must be in English characters and should be less than 25 characters.
• By submitting an application, you give rights to GENIUS Olympiad to use your video and creative work freely.

GENIUS SPEECH | What to expect at the Fair?

• Students will be asked to stand up at the podium in a classroom where they will give their three-minute speech without a microphone.
• Student speeches will be timed, and they will be warned with a bell at two-minute and two-minute thirty-seconds marks. Students will be stopped at the three-minute mark.
• After the student's speech is over, judges will ask several questions over six to seven minutes. The students must understand and respond to the questions, and their responses will influence their ratings.
• Other participants will NOT be allowed into the room during an individual student's judging session. Only one student (who is judged at the time), judges, and GENIUS staff are allowed to be present in the judging room.
• Supervisors are NOT allowed in the judging room during judging sessions.
• Read the Finalist guide under rules for more information.
• Only students who participate will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.

GENIUS Speech | Judging Criteria

1. Depth of Understanding: Demonstrates a clear grasp of the issue, including its causes, impacts, and significance.
2. Relevance to the Topic: How well the student addresses the chosen environmental issue.
3. Accuracy and Research: Presents well-researched, accurate information with creativity and originality in suggesting solutions to address the issue.
4. Engagement: Maintains eye contact, uses body language, and presents with confidence and enthusiasm.
5. Clarity of Speech: Speaks clearly and audibly, using appropriate language and terminology.
6. Structure and Organization: Presents information logically with a clear beginning, middle, and conclusion.
7. Quality of Responses: Provides thoughtful, insightful, and relevant answers demonstrating an understanding of the questions.
8. Confidence and Poise: Responds confidently, even under pressure.

GENIUS Business raises awareness of environmental values in the business world, from bringing green products and services to market to developing a social responsibility plan for any business aiming to have a positive relationship to the society and the environment in which it operates.

Each GENIUS Business project can be prepared and presented by up to two students. Participants must prepare and present a business plan to judges as though they were making a pitch for funding for their business plan, also known as an investment proposal. Presentations will be made in formal business attire and should include a Powerpoint/Prezi (or similar) presentation of no more than 10 minutes before QandA.

BUSINESS | Entrepreneurship

Students may offer a new product or technology to decrease human impact on the environment, or they can offer improvements to existing products or technologies to make them greener or more sustainable. This involves a combination of science, engineering and business sense. Participants must offer the product, technology, or enhancement along with a plan to bring this product or technology to market. The business plan must include an analysis of the existing market, analyzing potential buyers, suppliers, current competition, the culture of the market regarding of product, potential future competitors, and potential substitute technologies. It should then describe the product, its target market, expected price, promotional plans, and how it will be delivered to the customer. Finally, the business plan should include staffing and facilities plans, as well as ultimate profit goals.

BUSINESS | Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility plan should offer environmental solutions for existing businesses and industries, with the aim of a reduction in environmental impact. Participants must offer a 10-minute Powerpoint/Prezi (or similar) presentation promoting their business plan to make a change within their target business or industry. The business plan should include an analysis of the current environmental impact of the business/industry, a description of the proposed changes, and an analysis of the impact of these changes on the environment. The plan should then explore the financial cost of implementation and the impact of implementation on the company's position in the market (including the impact of any change in price, change in the customer experience of the product, obstacles to delivery, etc.). Participants should also examine potential competition from other sustainability models, and make the case for their own plan as the best solution.

GENIUS BUSINESS | APPLICATION RULES

• Each GENIUS Business project can be prepared and presented by up to two students.
• Submit a business plan describing the requested information. All projects, including affiliated fair winners, must submit these items.
• The business plan must be no more than 20 pages long, including a 2-page executive summary.
• The entire application document should be in English, and all file names must be in English characters. File name should be less than 25 characters.
• If the planned market is a non-English-speaking country, the presentation may include examples of the target languages as appropriate in marketing materials, etc.
• All projects must be submitted in ONLY PDF format.
• All financing should be converted into US dollars.
• We can not share other's business plan from previous years, however, the best projects are the ones which follow a typical business plan structure. As an example, we provide the following (you may choose to use other business plan templates): Business plan template (PDF)
• By submitting an application, you give rights to GENIUS Olympiad to freely use your creative work.

GENIUS BUSINESS | What to expect at the Fair?

• Present your project as a business pitch to the group of judges, using your Powerpoint/Prezi presentation in a business-like setting. Please practice the presentation to ensure that it is less than 10 minutes.
• It is HIGHLY recommended to bring models or prototypes of any product or technology you may be offering as a part of your presentation.
• Students are advised (not required) to bring printed copies of their executive summary (2 pages) of their business plans to distribute to curious viewers.
• A computer (operating with Windows) with a projector and a screen will be available for students to use. However, you may also use your own computer. Apple computer users must bring an adapter to connect their computer to HDMI.
• Students are allowed to make minor changes and improve their projects between application and fair presentation.
• Only students who participates in will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.
• Supervisors are not allowed at the judging area during judging sessions.

GENIUS Business | Judging Criteria

1. Creativity of concept: Does the team propose a novel, distruptive or unique business concept that will provide a competitive advantage and positive impact on environment?
2. Feasibility of concept: Does the proposed concept have a realistic potential to succeed? Are key milestones identified and can the product/service be produced and delivered to customers within the given timeline?
3. Marketability and Profitability: Is there a clear market need presented? Does the proposal suggest a viable way to meet the need? Can the product/service be successful to monetize? Is the business model both realistic and viable in the intermediate term?
4. Impact on Environment: Can the product/service resolve an existing environmental issue or reduce the impact on resources or environment?
5. Capability of the Management Team: Have the team members identified key risks and how they will be mitigated? Do the team members have a solid knowledge of the market and the competitors.
6. Overall Communication of Concept: Did the team present the concept in a prepared, logical, and persuasive manner. Did the team display enthusiasim and self-confidence about the concept during presentation?

Genius Robotics is a student-centric competition that enables students to understand the role of engineering and research in environmental issues. Genius Robotics encourages students to discover novel solutions to known environmental problems by requiring them to design, build, test, and control their unique robots. It provides students with a lifetime experience and an opportunity to enhance their life skills, such as being a team member, researching, and problem-solving.

Each GENIUS Robotics project can be prepared and presented by a team of up to three students. . Schools may apply with multiple teams. However, each student may be part of only one team. There can be only one robot for each team, which cannot be shared among teams. Only team members participating in the Olympiad will be recognized for the awards and announcements.

ROBOTICS | 2025 Game - Genie Restorator

Genie Restorator is designed to measure the performance of the robots and the teams in cleaning land by removing debris, collecting recyclable items, and reforesting a part of the land. The field has a shared land that was affected by a natural disaster and became inhabitable. This land is surrounded by farmlands. The mission is to clean the affected land from debris, collect recyclable items, and plant new trees in the designated area of the land once it is completely cleaned.

Robot Type and categories: The applications will be accepted in two categories based on engine power and robot kit capabilities; small (e.g. Lego, VEX-IQ, or kits with similar motor power) and large (e.g. TETRIX, VEX-Exp, VEX-V5, VEX-Pro or kits with similar motor power using less than 12V). Any other robot development kit can be used only if it is approved by the Genius Robotics Committee; these will be accepted under one of the two categories based on its hardware specifications, such as motor power, programming structure, etc. Consult the committee before building your robot by [email protected] if you want to use any robot development kit other than the one listed above, with motor power information and kit name.

Mission: The robots compete in a field, which will be divided into two identical subfields and a shared area (affected land). The subfields will be separated by blue and red lines, and teams will have their own region to complete the tasks. All zones are marked with color tape: the planting area is marked with green tape.

1^st Task is to collect the debris items (tennis balls) and move them to the bins outside the field.

2^nd Task is to collect recycled items (2 inches blue wooden cubes, red wooden cubes) from the affected land to the recycle bins on each subfield based on their color.

3^rd Task is to collect trees from tree nurseries located at each subfield and transport and plant them to the marked planting zone (Regular 0.5 lt water bottles).

There will be at least three rounds for each team, and the team may compete on either the blue or red side of the field; different rounds may be held in different fields.

Mission Details
For collecting debris items, 1^st task, Genie Restorator is responsible for picking debris items (tennis balls) from the affected land zone and transporting them to the debris bin, located outside of the field, without entering the loading deck. Robots can collect multiple debris items at once. Robots can pick up debris items from farmlands if they drop them.

For recycling, 2^nd task, Genie Restorator is responsible for collecting recycled items (picking up the blue and red cubes from the affected land) and transporting them into the corresponding recycle bins on their subfield. For this task, Genie Restorator can carry one recycled item type at a time. While picking up the recycled items (2 inches of wood cubes), robots are not allowed to collect different types of recycled items together. Each team will have their designated recycle bins (two bins for each team); therefore, they must transfer cubes only into their designated bins with the correct color to score points. The recycle bins will be taped to the ground; however, if your robot knocks the bin down and drops the cubes inside, the recycle bin is damaged to be used.

For planting new trees, 3^rd task, Genie Restorator is responsible for transporting trees, 0.5 lt water bottles, from the tree nursery to the planting zone and placing them in a standing position. Multiple trees can be collected, carried, and planted at the same time. This task can only be done when there is no debris or recycled items left in the affected area; the first two tasks must be completed before this task.

Genie Restorator is not allowed to pass the border of their subfield but is allowed to enter the shared affected land zone. The robot will start from the robot lot, and teams are allowed to make modifications to the robot, such as adding or removing attachments or changing the code during the competition round ONLY within the robot lot. Any other interference is not allowed during the rounds.

There will be 12 tennis balls and 10 blue and 10 red cubes in the shared affected zone. The tree nursery at each subfield will have 5 trees (water bottles).

Placement of cubes identified (recycled items): Cubes will be randomly distributed within the shared area (the affected zone).

Placement of tennis balls (debris): Tennis balls will be randomly distributed within the shared area (the affected zone).

The time given for this task is 3 minutes.

Scoring

• Each recycled item (wood cube) transported to the recycle bin earns 10 points.
• Each debris item (tennis ball) transported to the debris collection bin earns 20 points.
• Each planted tree at planting area earns 15 points.
• If Genie Restorator collects all recycled items in the recycle bins, the team earns an additional 20 points.
• If the robot collects and carries multiple recycled items at the same time, the team loses 20 points.
• If the robot collects and carries debris items and recycled items at the same time, the team loses 20 points.
• Each recycled item (wood cube) left in the farmland, loading dock, or outside the field at the end of the game loses 20 points.
• Each debris item (tennis ball) left in the farmland, loading dock, or outside the field at the end of the game loses 20 points.
• Each tree item (water bottles) left outside of the tree nursery placed as non standing at the end of the game loses 20 points.
• If the robot knocks down the recycle bins, it loses 50 points.
• If Genie Restorator carries recycled items (wood cube) from different types (colors), it loses 50 points for each occasion.
• If the robot passes the loading zone (crossing the white line), the team loses 20 points for each time.
• If the robot passes to the other side of the field, it loses 30 points each time.
• If the team interferes with the robot outside the robot lot, the team loses 50 points.
• When the game ends, if there are any items on the robot, they will be considered as left at the last location of the robot.
• If all tasks are completed (all recycled and debris items are collected into the bin and trees are planted) 1 point will be earned for every 1 second of the time after the robot returns to the robot lot. If the opponent’s robot prevents you from completing all tasks by removing some items to their subfield, you will still be eligible for these additional points based on completing the tasks.
• If teams violate any fair play rules, like destroying or blocking the opponent team’s robot intentionally, preventing the other team from achieving the tasks by swiping items to their subfield, the team will lose 100 points. In addition to these penalties, teams violating fair play rules can be subject to disqualification from the competition by the referee's decision.

Robot Inspection and Build Up Rules:
All finalist robots will be inspected on the setup/practice day. Any robot not following the rules below will be disqualified and ineligible to compete in GENIUS Robotics. Each team can have a single robot, thus, controlling more than one mini robot is not allowed.

Size: The robot must fit in the 20-inch cube. Width: 20 in Height: 20 in Length: 20 The robot can resize itself during the game but the initial size must meet this requirement.

The number of motors: Teams can use up to 8 DC motors and any number of servo motors. There is no limit to the number of motor controllers.

Power: Robots must use up to 12 V for each power item, and batteries must be provided. Teams are not allowed to use external power.

Software: Any programming language can be used to control robots.

Driving Robot: The robot will operate in tele-op modes. Only wireless communication is allowed in tele-op mode, driven by the students.

Project I.D.: Your robot must contain your project ID number, provided during the application, at least on one side of the robot. The size of the print should be at least 100 pts in Bold.

Game Materials:

During the competition, the practice fields and the competition fields will be provided by GENIUS Robotics. Due to space allocation concerns, teams will not be allowed to bring their own field and game materials to the competition area. However, they can bring any robot materials to maintain their robots. GENIUS Robotics will use only the listed items below for the competition, and the field map will be identified directly on black floor tiles using colored tapes according to the designed map, as given below. It is recommended but not mandatory to purchase the listed items. Any replacement to the listed materials would be accepted so that teams can prepare for the competition. GENIUS Robotics does not provide or sell any materials to the teams; teams can purchase their materials from the links or even make their materials.

• Competition Field: First Tech Challenge field will be used for the competition. Purchase.
• Competition Floor Tiles: It will be covered with soft foam mat tiles. The field map will be put on mat tiles using colored tapes according to the designed map, as given below. You may use your FTC mat tiles. Here are two options with the same thickness: FTCmat (Purchase 36 tiles) or Purchase 36 of these tiles (for 12'x12' design)
• Competition Floor Design Map: Please click on links to download the maps of the field with measurements and setup These will be your guide to set up your field using tapes. The tapes used on the field to make lines can be found here (different color and width can be purchased). All thick lines are 3 inches in width and all thin lines are 1 inch in width.
• Competition Cubes: 2-inch hardwood cubes (90-95 grams), painted, to be used as recycle item.Purchase.
• Competition Balls: These are regular tennis balls, in the size of 2.5-2.7 inches, to be used as debris item. Purchase or Sample
• Recycle Bins: The colored bins (5-inch height x 11.75 inch width x 7.75 inch depth) will be taped on the floor to the inside of the field's perimeter to collect colored wood cubes. Purchase
• Debris Bin: The bin (10.75 height X10.5 inch width X10.5 inch depth) will be taped to the outside of the field's perimeter as a debris bin to collect tennis balls. Purchase
• Competition Water Bottles (Recycled item): Water bottles will be empty. They will be regular water bottle in 16.9 Fl Oz (500 mL). Typical water bottle dimensions are 7.8 inch height and 2.4 inch diameter. Any empty water bottle similar to these can be used.Purchase

GENIUS ROBOTICS | Judging Criteria (Master Game only)

1. Engineering book - 10% : Teams can gather any details about the robot inluding design choices, drawings, experiments, photos for the development stages, coding schemes and source codes and the system layout of the robot. This document may also contain some unstructured engineering notes and handwritten records. There is no specific format for the engineering book but teams must explain their project stages using the information in their engineering book.

2. Teamwork - 10% : Judges will score the involvement of each team member during the judging session. To get a good score, teams may divide their presentation and different team members may be responsible for each part.

3. Presentation  - 20% : Teams will present their project and explain the details about their robot by using their engineering book and optionally their poster. Each team will be given 6 minutes at most to tell about their design and engineering work. Judges may ask questions during or after the presentation. There is no specification for the optional project poster. Designing a poster is recommended.

4. Master game score - 60% : (details are given above under master game scoring)

According to Master Game judging criteria, participants will receive 10% gold, 20% silver, 20% bronze, and 20% honorable mention awards.

GENIUS ROBOTICS | APPLICATION RULES

• A robotics project can be prepared and submitted by up to three students.
• Schools may submit multiple teams/projects, however, each student may be in only one team. Each must submit an application, but the same schools should use the same account for multiple applications.
• Team members cannot be changed once the project is announced as finalist.
• Each team must have their own robot and robots cannot be shared among teams, even they are from the same school.
• For each project application, a unique video file should be prepared which shows the skills of the robot achieving the goals of the Genius game plan. Project videos should not contain irrelevant details (club members, school history ..etc)
• How to Apply? Create a demo video (less than 3 min) of your own robot which is built by the students. Upload the video to YouTube with a title: GENIUS Robotics_YEAR_TITLE. The Youtube link should be provided when the media link is asked for during application. The video should include students planning phase, built-up phase, and the demo. With this video teams showcase their basic robotics skills, such as lifting, picking, carrying etc.
• If the school applies with multiple team/robots, a separate video must be prepared and submitted for each team/robot. Otherwise, the school will be disqualified for all applications.
• Your file names must be in English characters if you submit supplementary documents with your projects. File names should be less than 25 characters.
• Submitting engineering book is optional for project applications.

GENIUS ROBOTICS | What to expect at the Fair?

• Everyone including team members, guests, supervisors, and organizers are required to wear safety glasses in the competition area. Prescription glasses or sunglasses are NOT considered as safety glasses. Open-toe or open-back shoes are NOT allowed in the practice and competition area. You are allowed to bring your own poster board/presentation, which should be placed on 40x60 inches table. There is no height restriction for self-prepared boards. Shipping information is available in the Finalist Guide.
• Students are not allowed to bring posters to present their robots or projects.
• Students are allowed to make changes and improve their robots between application and fair presentation.
• We provide only 110 V outlet. We do NOT provide 220 V.
• A table will be provided for each team for their set-up.
• There will be 2 practice fields which will provide practicing for four teams at the same time. Teams will be asked to take turns in every 15 minutes.
• Supervisors are NOT allowed to stay in the competition area with their teams. The students should be able to handle all issues by themselves.
• Teams must stay near their assigned desk not to miss any competition round.
• Teams missed their round will not be given second chance to make up.
• Only students who participates in will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.

GENIUS ROBOTICS | Questions and Answers

If you send us a specific question, their answers will be shared on this page for others as well:

1. Can we use any other development kit than Lego, Tetrix or Vex?
   The answer is yes but you need the approval of the Genius Robotics committee. Contact by [email protected]
2. What is the maximum size of the robot?
   The robots must be smaller than 20x20x20 inches (50x50x50 cm) for the master game. For Sumo and Line follower robots' sizes, please refer the corresponding guidelines.
3. Is there a restriction on controlling the robot?
   Only wireless communication is allowed for driving robots.
4. What if my robot is not ready before the application deadline, can I still apply?
   Yes you can apply. Your final version of the robot does NOT have to be ready during application. However, you must have a robot in hand to provide a video showing your capabilities and early version of the robot.
5. Can I use Makeblock kits?
   The answer is yes, but you need to let us know what type (starter or mbots).
6. Can I use Meet Edison with other Lego parts?
   Yes, you can use Meet Edison along with Lego kit and register under Lego category.
7. When the mission is considered completed for a team to go back to robot lot and earn bonus points?
   All tasks are considered completed when all recycled items are collected into the recycle bins, all water samples are collected in to the lab and all stray animals are transported to the ocean.
8. When the round ends, if robot has some balls or cubes on it and could not place them on time, is there any penalty?
   It depends on the last location of the robot. i.e. If there is a stray animal on the robot and robot is at the coastline, it gets penalty. If it is still on the island, there is no penalty.
9. Can we have more than one controllers/operators acting simultaneously?
   You can have up to two controllers, controling one single robot.
10. Can we start with a single robot which can divide into seperate robots on the field?
    You can have only one single robot operating on the field.
11. Is there any restriction on orientation of robot in robot zone to start the game?
    Robot zone is the free area that you can do anything including changing the starting direction of the robot.
12. How much time is provided to calibrate and setup robot before each rounds?
    There is no certain time but the competition rounds will take around 5 hours total (2.5 hours each session) and each team will have about 4-5 rounds. So you can think of one round at every 30 minutes. It may change based on our competition scheduler software.
13. what will happen if a team misses its competition?
    team may be disqualified, therefore students must be at their designated desk at all times when they are not competiting and also should be near their field as their time comes up according to th provided schedule.
14. What if the robot interferes or destroys an opponent’s robot intentionally or due to lack of control?
    This is against fair play rules and the team would be disqualified from Genius Robotics if it were intentional. If it were due to lack of control, team would lose lots of points each time it interferes the opponent robot.
15. Can we collect many recycled items and transport them together?
    You cannot collect multiple recycled items at once.
16. Is there any difference on touching/detecting and crossing the opponent’s border?
    You can touch the border (3 inches) to detect the opposite side but crossing the border is not allowed (penalty points).
17. Is it allowed crossing the border by extended part of the robot, not with the original size?
    No.
18. How much time is allocated for the mission?
    3 minutes.
19. Can robots carry recycled items and debris item at the same time?
    No. There is a penalty for that.
20. Are robots allowed to throw the recycled items to the recyle bin?
    Yes, you can throw the recycled items.
21. Are robots allowed to throw the debris item into the debris bin?
    Yes, you can throw the debris items.

GENIUS Art raises public awareness to take action on global environmental problems and solutions.
Each GENIUS Art project can be prepared and presented by only one student.

ART | Photography

Photojournalistic, documentary, experimental, or expressive, photography in all of its machinations can be used to inspire, inform, motivate, and otherwise provide the viewer with a distinct experience related to environmental issues. GENIUS photography encompasses a wide variety of artwork which uses the environment and all its many aspects, including human impacts on nature, which is a lot more realistic and more in accordance to what we see around us, as their subject.

Turning your lens toward a scene of decay, pollution and photographing it in a way that induces an emotional reaction in the viewer can probably do more to help protect the wilderness than a photograph of a pristine landscape will. By supporting the power of photographic storytelling, we motivate society to make a positive change to raise awareness about endangered cultures, threatened environments and social concerns through photography.

GENIUS photography should (but not limited to) express the way natural systems respond and do not respond with the environmental issues, express a sense of frustration about the world we live in, express changes society made through construction, pollution, and land-management policies, and express actions of moments within cities, human environment, and nature to raise awareness. Sometimes, simple photos, such as green coming out of a concrete wall or road can be an inspiration. For professional examples of environmental photography, please visit these websites for award-wining projects: 2018_photos and 2016 _photos

ART | Poster Design

A GENIUS poster should motivate to think differently about the things that people may be learning or doing about environment, should aim to create a behavioral change regarding environmental problems (local or global) such as global warming, water (pollution or usage), air pollution or quality, waste management (reduce, reuse, and recycle), energy, etc. It can be created digitally or any form of painting (including pencil). 90% or more of the artwork must be created by the student artist. For professional examples, please visit "Environmental Awareness Posters" or "environment awareness campaign" or "others"

ART | Mixed Media

Mixed media art refers to a visual art form that combines a variety of media in a single artwork. For example, if you draw with ink, then paint over it with watercolors, then add some highlights in colored pencil, and these drawing can be enhanced with addition of collage of photos/recycled papers which can also be colored or penciled over, and cotton balls, and tree branches, or any material including recycled material can be glued to give a 3-D look for the artwork- that's mixed media!

A GENIUS Mixed Media should transform your life experiences to create a unique and quirky artwork to showcase an environmental focus. GENIUS Mixed Media artwork should be in 3-D form, and including glued colored papercuts incorporated into art would be enough to give a 3-D look for the artwork. Students are highly encouraged to use recycled materials, including paper, old postcards, newspapers, cans, fabric, etc to provide a 3-D mixed media work. Also, make sure that your artwork backing is strong enough to carry your artwork. The depth of the artwork should not be more than 8" (12 cm). For mixed media art examples, 3D Project ideas, and more

GENIUS ART | APPLICATION RULES

• Art projects can be prepared and submitted by only one student.
• The size of the artwork should be 18x24 inches.
• You will be required to submit your artwork as part of the application process (submitted by uploading a document within the application system) and a one-page optional artist statement. All projects, including affiliated fair winners, must submit their artwork.
• Poster art, photography, and mixed media must submit their artwork in JPEG format with a file size under 5 MB.
• All imagery and art must be your own work.
• Your project file name must be in English characters and should be less than 25 characters.
• By submitting an application, you give rights to GENIUS Olympiad to freely use your creative work.

GENIUS ART | What to expect at the Fair?

• Printed artwork (for poster art and photography projects) must be 18 x 24 inches to be displayed at the GENIUS Olympiad. GENIUS will provide a black foam board of 22x28 inches for all artwork display.
• Students are allowed to make improvements on their projects between application and fair presentation.
• Judges may ask questions about the work and how you design, compose and create the work.
• Read the Finalist guide for more information.
• Only students who participates in will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.
• Supervisors are not allowed at the judging area during judging sessions.

GENIUS Art | Judging Criteria

1. Creativity: Does the project design show newness and originality?
2. Composition: Does project shows visual balance, static or dynamic, of the various elements included in the project?
3. Expression of Meaning: How well does the project make its own theme clear to the viewer?
4. Expression of Emotion: Does the project can be expected to evoke an emotional response in the viewer?
5. Relevance: What is the degree of relevance of the project to the local, national, or global environmental issues?
6. Quality: Does the project effectively use the chosen media with combined skill involved in production of the work to convey its message.
7. Overall Expression: addresses the project as a whole, and is often based on the first glimpse of the finished piece. Without regard to the other criterion, does it stand on its own as a good and complete work of art?

GENIUS Music heightens public concern for environmental problems and offers solutions by pulling at the auditory heartstrings through performance (as a performer). GENIUS Music allows the student artists to influence public at the level of the heart. From the time of Homer until the present day, musical creators have presented ideas to the public in new ways, reaching them in ways that no others could, and calling people to action.

Performances may be in any style, but must exhibit a high degree of performance acumen, rehearsal, care, and thought. All projects must include a tie-in to the environment.

Performers may use an already-written composition that was created with reference to the environment. You may choose to use a piece in your language, but explain how that piece connects listener with environment. You will read your Artist Statement prior to the performance, which will allow the audience to understand why you chose this piece.

Music | Solo Performance

GENIUS Music Solo Performance combines the puppetry of the composer with the talent of a single artist to offer a unique blend of inspiration. The human voice and musical instruments have special a power to touch the soul in direct and indirect ways. Solo performance projects can be prepared by only one student. Student artist may either "play an instrument live" or "play an instrument and sing live at the same time". We highly encourage students show their skills playing their cultural instruments. For an example, check this out.

Music | Group Performance

GENIUS Music Group Performance combines the puppetry of the composer with the talent of a group of artists to offer a unique blend of inspiration. Group performance (band) projects can be prepared by up to three students. For example, check this out.

Music | Singer

GENIUS Music Singer provides its exceptional voice to influence others. Singer projects can be prepared by only one student. Student artist is expected to sing a song (either existing or their song) live, however, the music can be either live or playback. The student must bring a high-quality playback music at the competition. For an example, check this out.

GENIUS MUSIC | APPLICATION RULES

• Music Group Performance projects can be prepared and submitted by maximum of three students. Solo Performance and Singer projects can be prepared and submitted by only one student.
• The application requires an artist statement, the score, and the video of the performance.
• A well-produced and well-rehearsed video of the performance (for all subcategories) must be uploaded to YouTube with the title: "GENIUS Olympiad - YEAR: TITLE". The YouTube link must be provided as part of the application within Media Link.
• The artist statement should be less than 500 words and should describe the connection of the composition or the performance to the environment. The artist statement should be written in English and will be read to a live audience. The statement should be saved as a PDF or Word file with file name as follows: Country_projectname_statement. The statement must be uploaded to the application site.
• Your file names must be in English characters and file names must be less than 25 characters.
• By submitting an application, you give rights to GENIUS Olympiad to freely use your creative work.

GENIUS MUSIC | What to expect at the Fair?

• You are highly encouraged to bring your instruments.
• The judging room will have technical capabilities to provide video and sound playback. The judging room will be open to the public during the judging process.
• We can provide only 110 V outlets. We do NOT provide 220 V.
• You should come to the competition with pre-printed materials of your artist statement, scores, and a digital copy of your performance video.
• Students are allowed to take 1-2 minutes of a statement regarding the connection of their piece with the environment.
• Only students who participates in will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.
• Supervisors are not allowed at the judging area during judging sessions.

GENIUS Music | Judging Criteria

1. Foundations: Accuracy/execution of notes, rhythm, accuracy/polish of ensemble, quality of tonal sound/timbre, fidelity to provided score (tempo, articulation, dynamics, etc.)
2. Artistic: Balance, phrasing, emotional commitment/efficacy
3. Relevance: quality and clarity of the artist’s statement and its connection to the environment

Rich with a variety of stories and purposes, sequential imagery has been used for over 200 years to capture and hold the public’s attention. Short films and animations have been a popular choice for the artist with a vision best shared as a sequence. With the arrival of short digital video, this art form has exploded and gone viral, thanks to online sites such as YouTube.

Each GENIUS Short Film projects can be prepared and submitted by two students. Whether informative, expressive, or affirmative, GENIUS Olympiad is seeking animated, live action, or documentary short films shorter than six minutes that transport the viewer into the scene, create an emotional change with the scene, and motivates and informs the viewer towards any global or local environmental issue. Here is an example of award-winning GENIUS Short Film: "2017" "2017-2" "2016", or for professional short films

SHORT FILM | NARRATIVE

Any movie that tells a fictional story. This category might include such movie types as drama, action, science fiction. Please search for "short film narrative" on Google for award-winning professional short films to get inspired. As an example, see these or these or this or these.

SHORT FILM | DOCUMENTARY

Any movie about a real-life person, event, your community or culture, personal experiences, or even yourself related to issues of environment, its impact on us. Please search for "short film documentary" on Google for award-winning professional short films to get inspired. As an example, see these or these or these.

SHORT FILM | ANIMATION

Any movie uses computer animation, hand-drawn, clay-animation, or frame animation to tell a story. Please search for "short film animation" on Google for award-winning professional short films to get inspired. Here are some professional examples.

SHORT FILM | APPLICATION RULES

• Short Film projects can be prepared and submitted by two students
• Short films should be 2-6 minutes in length, and animated, live-action, or documentary in style. Short Films which are non-English must include English Subtitles.
• Short film projects must be uploaded on YouTube with the following title: "GENIUS Olympiad - YEAR: Title of the project". The YouTube link must be submitted during the application process within MEDIA LINK. Please Do NOT upload the video itself into the application site, we will watch your video on Youtube for initial evaluation.
• All work shown in short film projects MUST be your own work, including imagery used in documentaries. Short films consist of a collage of images from the internet is not accepted. Your short film may have up to 20% of imagery taken from the web, but you must show the credits for each image at the end of the film.
• File names must be in English characters and should be less than 25 characters.
• By submitting an application, you give rights to GENIUS Olympiad to freely use your creative work.

SHORT FILM | What to expect at the Fair?

• Short Film projects will be judged on a large screen where other participants can watch the film. RIT will provide desktop PC to play your videos. You may also bring your own computer and an adaptor HDMI cable to play your video.
• You must bring your movie on a flash drive. It is advised for you to bring your movie in multiple formats, such as Windows Media Player, Flv, or mp4.
• Students are allowed to make changes and improve their projects between application and fair presentation.
• Students are allowed a maximum of 1-2 minutes of verbal presentation regarding their short films.
• Students are allowed to make minor changes and improve their projects between application and fair presentation.
• Only students who participates in will be recognized with awards if the project wins an award.
• Supervisors are not allowed at the judging area during judging sessions.

SHORT FILM | JUDGING CRITERIA

1. Creativity: Does the project design have the newness and originality?
2. Story Flow: Does the project has a strong, original, compelling, attention attracting, seamlessly flowing story?
3. Production Design: Are the casting, location, costumes, sets, etc appropriate for the story?
4. Emotional Impact/Audience Appeal: Does the project evoke and creates a lasting a emotional response and impression in the viewer?
5. Technical Quality: Is the quality of visuals, audio, lighting, angles, shots, editing professional?
6. Relevance: What is the degree of relevance of the project to the local, national, or global environmental issues?
7. Overall Quality: addresses the project as a whole, and is often based on the first glimpse of the finished piece. Without regard to the other criterion, does it stand on its own as a good and complete work of art?

GENIUS Coding allows students to use their coding skills to solve environmental issues. Students are expected to use Python programming language to develop algorithms for problems given by GENIUS Olympiad. It provides students with a lifetime experience and an opportunity to enhance their life skills such as being a team member, coding, creative thinking, and problem-solving. We created a platform where students will work as a team to solve the problem and will get real-time feedback if their solution is not successful which allows them to rework their solution to mimic real-life scenarios.

Each GENIUS Coding application must be prepared and attended individually (one student per application). Schools may apply with multiple students.

GENIUS Coding - First Step Competition

GENIUS Coding is looking for students who are experienced in Python coding and can create algorithmic solutions for given problems.

Students must make sure they have a stable internet connection.

Students will work individually to solve the given problems and will not be allowed to interact with anyone.

Students are also allowed to use any online or paper source during their competition. However, students are NOT allowed to ask any questions or help from any other student or their teachers.

Results will be checked, and students cannot use AI chatbot tools.

Each school may have more than one student.

Students should prepare for our first step competition by solving algorithmic problems using online problem banks.

Students should register by the application deadline and make their application fee payments in order to attend the first step competition.

The first step competition will be scheduled within 10 days after the application deadline. Multiple competitions will be set according to time zones, and each student will be assigned to a particular scheduled competition. Students from the same school will receive different set of questions with same difficulty.

The first step competition will be one hour in length and will include up to 5 coding problems in varying difficulty. The competition will close automatically once the time is up.

Students may start solving any of the questions.

Students may submit their solutions for each question separately once they think they completed the solution. The system will provide a compilation check. If their solution was not correct, they may continue to work on the problem and resubmit. This compilation check may take few minutes to complete depends on internet speed.

The schedule and the link for the competition will be provided within our application site. Make sure to check your account and your emails. Make sure that emails from the GENIUS application site arrive into your inbox.

Those who showed the knowledge of Python coding language and algorithmic solution by scoring at a certain level will be selected as a finalist to compete at the GENIUS Olympiad final step. Scoring will be done by the system based on the number of problems that were able to be completed successfully, the time and the number of attempts it took to solve each problem.

GENIUS Coding - Final Step Competition

Students must bring their own laptops to use at the competition.

Students will work individually and no interaction with anyone is allowed during the session.

Students are allowed to use paper source during the competition. However, students are NOT allowed to ask any questions or receive help from anyone including their teachers.

Students must turn off all additional electronics (phones, smartwatches, tablets ..etc) besides their laptops and keep them in their bag. All social media apps or any websites other than the competition website must be closed on their laptops. Any violation will result in disqualification.

Results will be checked, and students cannot use AI chatbot tools.

The final competition will be two and half hours in length and will include multiple Python coding problems in varying difficulty. The competition will close automatically once the time is up. The difficulty of questions at the final competition will be harder than the first step competitions.

Student supervisors will not be allowed to be in the room during the competition.

Students may start solving any of the questions. Students may work on each problem as a team or may choose to work on separate problems.

Students may submit their solutions for each question separately once they think they completed the solution. The system will provide a compilation check. If their solution was not correct, they may continue to work on the problem and resubmit. This compilation check may take few minutes to complete.

GENIUS Coding - Final Step Scoring

Students' final score will be based on the number of problems that were able to be completed successfully, the time and the number of attempts it took to solve each problem. Additionally, the energy efficiency (carbon footprint) of submitted solutions will be scored by testing it on a Genius Olympiad computer for all teams after the competition.

20% of your total score will come from your energy efficiency score. Only successful complete attempts for each question will be considered for energy efficiency evaluation. Unsuccessful attempts will receive no points for energy efficiency.