Year after year, Princeton Research Day endorses a simple credo—never pass up an opportunity to talk about your research—and then provides a great platform on which to do it. This anniversary year is no exception: the 10th Annual Princeton Research Day (PRD) season is now open.

Princeton Research Day is the University’s marquee, campus-wide event for early-career researchers and creators (undergraduates, grad students, postdocs, and staff researchers) to present their work and performances in online videos viewed by a vast lay audience, and to compete for cash prizes ranging between $1,000 and 1,500.

Participants produce three-minute, accessible videos that showcase the breadth of research projects at Princeton in a way that perhaps no other campus event does, from the Lewis Center for the Arts to the School of Architecture to the Department of Molecular Biology and everywhere in between. Entries last year included videos on stealthy hyperuniform metamaterials, the history of the Mpala Research Centre in Kenya, and how estrogen protects the brain, among over 140 other subjects. Click here for a list of last year’s award winners.

The top videos this year will receive prizes at the in-person event planned for Thursday, May 8, which includes a Showcase poster or exhibit from entrants from 12 to 1 p.m.; a reception from 1 to 2:30 p.m.; and the Awards Celebration program from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Register to attend here.

A collaborative initiative started in 2015, Princeton Research Day is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the offices of the Dean of the College, Dean of the Faculty, Dean of the Graduate School, Dean for Research, Vice President for Campus Life, and the Office of the Provost.

The official PRD website has opened with links to tutorials on preparing your video, an introduction to public speaking, workshops, visualizing your ideas, and other resources along with links for registration. 

Those who enter their presentations through the Early Submission portal by April 14 can win a small prize: either a pastry or beverage or a 16-oz. commemorative PRD glass. Final submission deadline is April 30. 

The videos are posted online for public viewing and voting beginning May 2.

Here’s a quick look at this year’s PRD deadlines:

• April 14: Priority submission deadline
• April 30: Final submission deadline, 5 p.m.
• May 2: PRD videos posted online for viewing and judging
• May 8: 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Princeton Research Day Showcase and Awards Celebration

Prizes this year will be granted for a total of 20 awards, including two FitzRandolph Gate Awards based on a public vote, always a fan favorite. For all categories, judges decide winners based on the presenter’s ability to communicate their work effectively to a lay audience.

Along with the cash prizes, Princeton Research Day presents a unique opportunity to shape undergraduate/graduate/postdoctoral research into short, punchy videos and an eye-catching poster that develop presentation and speaking skills. In other words, it’s a great chance to work on your elevator pitch.

Last year, for example, Sunrit Panda ’25, won an Outstanding Presentation Award for his video, “De-extinction as a Practical Tool for Conservation,” on the impacts of domestic dog exposure on wild coyotes in Pennsylvania. His video was drawn from a paper for his writing seminar that he felt was “such an interesting and impractical subject” that its likelihood of receiving funding was minimal. So the paper and resulting Princeton Research Day video, he said, were a great chance to “opine” about an interesting subject that might not otherwise receive its due. 

“It’s absolutely important to communicate science well,” said Panda. “Unless these skills are enshrined in our education, we cannot expect to graduate as researchers who can explain science to the public and thus hope to bring out practical outcomes that impact the lives of a broader spectrum of people.

“It was nice to communicate my research in a low-stakes environment where I could complete multiple takes before submitting the video,” he added. His guidance for working up a video from a research paper: “Distill each paragraph of your paper into a one sentence summary or conclusion, and that is an easy first draft of a video script. Then shorten the length and improve clarity from there.”

Please visit the website at Princeton Research Day 2025 for more information, awards categories, important dates, registration, and tutorials for participants. The site also features a full showcase of past Princeton Research Day submissions.