This competition is now closed. Winners will be revealed shortly.
Are you a new entrant to the food industry with less than five years’ experience? We are looking for up to 15 bright and committed people working in roles where food safety is critical. We want to hear about your achievements and contributions in the area of food safety especially over the last year when the public has been even more reliant on safe food to maintain their health, as part of their home-based COVID-19 situation. You may or may not be currently working, but started your career within the last five years. We want to hear how you have made a positive impact in your workplace that has contributed to improvements in food safety in the food supply chain from farm to fork. Just tell us in less than five hundred words, what the problem was and how it was identified, what your role was in developing a solution or improvement to a situation and what the outcome was for you, your business and your customers.
Successful entries to this competition will be awarded a year’s complimentary Associate Membership with IFST and a place at our Spring Conference (SC21) which takes place online from 26 April - 7 May. In addition, you will be invited to a presentation and careers mentoring session with the Food Safety Leaders of Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
Entries will be judged by a small panel chaired by Jon Poole, IFST Chief Executive.
Erica Sheward, Director of GFSI commented: "New professionals making a career in the food sector are our future security in maintaining and ensuring the continuous improvement of food safety practices and culture in the industry and need relevant opportunities for continuous learning and professional development. Understanding the food safety implications of changes to the supply chain such as we are experiencing now post EU Exit, is vital going forward. Membership of IFST provides vital knowledge, technical resources and a community that is a valuable resource we are pleased to support and encourage in this manner."
Full details of how to enter the competition are as below. Entries should be returned by midnight 12 April 2021 to info@ifst.org.
What is the prize?
The fifteen winners of this competition receive a one-year complimentary associate level membership with IFST plus free entry to the Spring Conference ‘Food Science and Technology -Thinking Smart Acting Smart’ which runs from 26 April - 7 May online. In addition, IFST will organise in conjunction with GFSI a presentation and career mentoring session during 2021 (may be held as an online or hybrid event).
Criteria:
- The article must not be longer than 500 words and must be your own work
- Clearly written and concise
- Describe a case study and what your part in the activity was
- Engaging and original
- The material must not be commercially sensitive and suitable for publication online and in print
- The decision of the judge’s panel is final
Eligibility and Terms and Conditions:
- Open to all people working in the food supply chain (farm to fork) both the UK and overseas
- You must have been working in the food industry in a scientific or technically related role for less than five years. You may or may not be currently employed
- The competition is open to current IFST non-members only
- Submissions must be new original work that has not previously won prizes in other competitions, published and or entered in other competitions. (this includes articles published in any online sources, websites, blogs, publications and thesis)
- Articles that have won prizes in other competitions are not eligible.
- Entry must be all your own work and not be overtly commercial (promoting a company’s products or services)
- Only one entry per applicant
- Entries (Word document) should be submitted to info@ifst.org with “Early Careers Bursary Competition [your name]” in the subject field. All entries must be received by 23:59 on 9 April 2021
For more information, please contact Deborah Kendale (Business Development Director) at d.kendale@ifst.org
The Competition is not open to:
- Employees of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST) or Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)
- Entrants into the Competition shall be deemed to have accepted these Terms and Conditions.
- Only one entry per person. Entries on behalf of another person will not be accepted and joint submissions are not allowed. You are responsible for the cost (if any) of sending your Competition entry to us.
- IFST accepts no responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed, misdirected or incomplete or cannot be delivered or entered for any technical or other reason. Proof of delivery of the entry is not proof of receipt by IFST.
- The Competition will open at the time of launch of the competition on the IFST website and will close at 23.59 pm on the end date specified on that page. Entries received outside this time period will not be considered. IFST reserves the right in its absolute discretion to extend the closing date where the entries received are of insufficient quality.
- You own the copyright to your Competition entry as its author.
- By submitting an entry to the Competition, you give IFST:
- Permission for your Competition entry to be published on the IFST website and on any social media account controlled by IFST, including but not limited to Linked In, Facebook and Twitter accounts (“IFST Social Media Accounts”), and you grant IFST a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use and publish your Competition entry in electronic format (including on the IFST Website and Social Media Accounts) and hard copy (including in Food Science and Technology magazine) for purposes connected with the Competition, and to adapt the entry to enable such publication (including to crop or otherwise edit it for such purposes), and you waive, for the benefit of IFST, all moral rights in the entry to which you are entitled; and
- The right to use your name and position for the sole purpose of identifying you as the author of your entry and/or as a winner of the Competition.
- We may disqualify your Competition entry for the following reasons: your entry does not comply with these Terms and Conditions; you are not eligible to enter the Competition, or you cannot be contacted. In the event of disqualification, we may select a new winner in accordance with the selection processes outlined below.
The Prize
- The winner will receive a year’s associate membership of IFST and entry to the SC21 spring conference.
- Winners will be notified by phone or e-mail within seven (7) days of the closing date and be given details of how to claim the prize. If a winner does not respond to IFST within seven (7) days of being notified of their win, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and IFST shall be entitled to select another winner in accordance with the process described above (and that winner will have to respond to notification of their win within seven (7) days of being notified or else they will also forfeit their prize). If a winner rejects their prize or the entry is invalid or in breach of these terms, the winner’s prize will be forfeited and IFST shall be entitled to select another winner.
- The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and is not redeemable for cash or another prize.
- The winner may be required to take part in promotional activity related to the Competition and the winner shall participate in such activity on IFST’s reasonable request. The winner consents to the use by IFST, both before and after the closing date of the Competition for an unlimited time, of the winner’s voice, image, photograph and name for publicity purposes (in any medium, including still photographs and films, and on the internet, including any websites hosted by IFST and in advertising, marketing or promotional material without additional compensation or prior notice and, in entering the Competition, all entrants consent to the same.
- IFST shall use and take care of any personal information you supply to it as described in its privacy policy, a copy of which can be seen at https://www.ifst.org/privacy and in accordance with data protection legislation. By entering the Competition, you agree to the collection, retention, usage and distribution of your personal information in order to process and contact you about your Competition entry, and for the purpose outlined in paragraph 12 above.
- IFST accepts no responsibility for any damage, loss, liabilities, injury or disappointment incurred or suffered by you as a result of entering the Competition or accepting the prize.