Submissions are now open for the 2023 Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards! Read on to find out what the awards are and how to nominate or apply.

1. Awards 2023 Categories

2. Prizes

3. Key Dates

4. Eligibility Criteria

5. How to Apply

6. Selecting the Winners

7. History of the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards

8. Sponsor

1. Awards 2023 Categories

Exclusive to Ecsite members, the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards are the European science engagement awards that celebrate the people and organisations who demonstrate innovation, creativity and excellence.

Beacon of the Year Award

This award is the lifetime achievement award for science engagement professionals in Europe and is awarded to inspirational individuals who have spent a career making a difference in science engagement. This award recognises individuals who are:

• a key figure in mobilising, guiding and empowering others
• inspirational
• a strategic and innovative visionary
• significant contributors to the science engagement field

Responsible and Responsive Award

This award recognises and celebrates the actions of institutions – exhibitions, projects, initiatives, workshops – that are especially original and creative in response to current global events or societal challenges. It recognises activities that are:

• Creative: respond in innovative ways to difficult situations
• Bold: thinking big beyond the limitations of the moment
• Shareable: provide lessons others can learn from in other areas of science engagement
• Caring: seeking to support those most affected by global changes
• Impactful: the institution's activities have had an impact on the wider field of science engagement

2. Prizes

Beacon of the Year Award - the winner receives €2,500, free entry to the Ecsite Conference 2023 in Malta, a certificate and an iconic trophy.

Responsible and Responsive - one representative of the winning organisation receives a certificate, an iconic trophy and free entry to the Ecsite Conference 2023 in Malta.

3. Key Dates

Please submit or apply by March 8.

The jury of experts will convene to decide the successful nominees in March.

Winners will be informed by the end of April.

The awards ceremony takes place at the Gala Dinner at the Ecsite Conference 2023 in Malta on June 15.

4. Eligibility Criteria

The following conditions must be met:

BEACON OF THE YEAR

• Only Ecsite members and their staff can nominate a peer colleague
• Only staff of Ecsite members can be nominated
• When nominating, please provide the contact details of three professional references from three different countries who can confirm your description of your nominee
• No self-nominations allowed
• You can nominate a colleague from your own institution

RESPONSIBLE AND RESPONSIVE

• All Ecsite members can submit an application or be nominated by peers
• Several Ecsite members can team up to submit a common application if they worked on a project together
• Any methodology/projects/initiative should have been created and designed in response to an emerging societal trend

5. How to Apply/Nominate

Nominating for the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards has never been easier - simply follow these links to fill in the short forms.

Nominate your candidate for the Beacon of the Year Award

Nominate/apply for the Responsible and Responsive Award

6. Selecting the Winners

The award winners are chosen by a panel of experts in the field of science engagement, chaired by 2020 Beacon of the Year winner Maya Halevy, Director of the The Bloomfield Science Museum, Jerusalem.

7. History of the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards

Created in 2015, the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards encourage creative and impactful work within the informal science education sector.
Open to all Ecsite members, they provide a prestigious incentive and reward, and contribute to the development of excellence in science engagement.

The awards are named after José Mariano Gago (1948 - 2015), a key figure of European science engagement. He was a founder of the Portuguese Ciência Viva network of science centres and an active contributor to Ecsite activities over the years. "In a few decades Mariano Gago was able to build a modern scientific community deeply rooted in Portuguese society, implementing his vision that science is source of both technical and human progress. Mariano Gago was also the founder of LIP," explained Mário Pimenta, President of the LIP laboratory, generous contributor to the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards.

8. Sponsor

LIP has sponsorsed the Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards since 2016.

The Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Physics (LIP) was founded by José Mariano Gago in 1986. José Mariano Gago (1948 - 2015) was key figure of European science engagement. He was a founder of the Portuguese Ciência Viva network of science centres and an active contributor to Ecsite activities over the years.

The Mariano Gago Ecsite Awards bear his name as a tribute. Ecsite warmly thanks LIP, which made a generous donation towards the awards.

LIP is the Portuguese Laboratory for experimental Particle and Astroparticle Physics and develops its R&D activities mainly in the framework of experiments at CERN, ESA and in other international scientific facilities such as GSI, SNOLAB, SURF(LUX) and the Pierre Auger Observatory. LIP activities include the development of new Instruments and Methods, advanced Computing, advanced education and outreach. LIP has premises in Lisbon, Coimbra and Braga and its members are presently the Portuguese science founding agency (FCT), the Universities of Coimbra, Lisbon and Minho, IST (Técnico-Lisbon) and ANIMEE (Electrical and Electronics Business Association).