• Pablo Marín (CDP San Juan Bosco) won the award in Category A and Ángel Jiménez (IES Albert Einstein) won the prize in Category B
• The Andalusian winners came second in the international round
• The judges congratulated the more than 40 participants on the originality of the entries received

Students from the San Juan Bosco and Albert Einstein schools in Seville have won the regional round of the nano-story competition “There are many stories in the nanoworld, tell us about them!”, organised by the Seville Institute of Materials Science (ICMS), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Seville (US), in collaboration with the Isla de la Cartuja Scientific Research Centre (CicCartuja) and the CSIC’s Andalusian Regional Office.

It is worth noting that the competition, which began last March and ended at the start of this month, is an initiative aimed at inspiring young people to write scientific stories and forms part of the 11th ‘10alamenos9’ Festival of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. This event is organised by various institutions, universities, foundations, companies and research centres at both international and national levels, and its name refers to the unit of measurement in the world of nanotechnology, where 10⁻⁹ denotes a size one billion times smaller than a metre.

Specifically, the jury has selected these three entries from among the more than 40 works submitted by secondary and sixth-form students, in which nanotechnology and nanoscience were explored through literature. The judges highlighted the great originality of the entries submitted and, in the case of Category A (those born between 2010 and 2011), given the number of entries received, they also awarded a runner-up prize.

In this category, the first prize went to Pablo Marín Sianes (CDP San Juan Bosco), who, under the pseudonym BombaNaK, wrote a story entitled ‘Journey through the Cell Membrane’, in which he describes a journey through this structure and his encounter with other molecules of carbon dioxide, sodium and potassium. In Category A, due to the number of entries submitted, and in accordance with the competition rules, a runner-up prize has been awarded to Elena Durá Cáceres, also from CDP San Juan Bosco, who, under the pseudonym Nanoscientist, wrote ‘Whirlwind of Collisions’, in which she explores the functioning of a catalyst through the medium of literature.

Meanwhile, in Category B – open to all students born between 2008 and 2009 – the winner was Ángel Jiménez Martín from IES Albert Einstein, who, under the pseudonym MrBuckyball, wrote the story “Copies of Copies”, in which he describes a parallel world after observing a sample through a microscope.

As set out in the competition rules, the two main winners will each receive a prize of 200 euros in their respective categories, whilst the runner-up has received a set of popular science books from the “Qué sabemos de…” collection, co-published by the CSIC and La Catarata. Furthermore, all three have progressed to the final stage of the international round, where Elena Durá came second and Ángel Jiménez shared second place, tied with another winning story.

Through initiatives such as this, the ICMS continues to reinforce its commitment to participating in and organising science communication activities, with the aim of further encouraging scientific and technical careers amongst young people and fostering a culture of science. This work forms part of and is funded by the DEEP-MaX-2024 Excellence Plan, through which the ICMS has been awarded the ASPIRA-MaX ‘Sagrario Martínez-Carrera’ seals of excellence and the ASPIRA-CSIC ‘Josefa Barba’ distinction.

You can read the nano-stories here.