2026 Fresh Ideas Student Competition

It’s back… This year’s 2026 Fresh Ideas Competition is for students and professionals who have graduated within the past year. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed by Ohio drinking water professionals. The top three abstracts will be selected for a Technical Presentation at the 2026 One Water Technical Conference held from August 17 to August 20, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The remaining abstracts will be invited to do a Poster Presentation at the conference. Cash awards defined below will be presented to the technical talk presenters and top three poster presenters. Also, the six prize winners will receive a complimentary one-year AWWA student membership, if eligible.

Topic: Abstracts on source water protection, drinking water treatment, analytical methods, water distribution and storage, water reuse, or any other drinking water-related topic are invited.

Abstracts: The abstract and competition application (see below) should be submitted by February 6, 2026. Applicants should read through the information below regarding technical talk and poster presentations and indicate whether they request their abstract to be reviewed for the technical talk presentation, poster presentation, or both. All students whose abstracts are selected will receive complimentary registration to the One Water Technical Conference for the day of their presentation. The conference will be held August 17 to August 20, 2026, in Cincinnati, Ohio. All applicants will be notified by the end of March about the status of their abstract.

For more information about the 2026 One Water Technical Conference, please visit: https://onewaterohio.org/

Selection Criteria: Abstracts will be judged on their relevancy to the drinking water industry, originality of the ideas, concepts, and solutions presented, and professionalism (e.g., appropriate writing style, grammar, spelling, etc.). A qualified panel of judges will review the abstracts and score them against a matrix of parameters.

Technical Presentations: The authors of the top three abstracts will be asked to present their project or research as a PowerPoint presentation at the conference. Technical talk presentations will take place during one of the conference days, anytime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. The presentation will consist of a 40-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute discussion period. Technical talk presenters will be given a $350 (1st), $250 (2nd), or $200 (3rd) cash award, a certificate, and a one-year complimentary AWWA student membership (if eligible). In addition, the first-place winner will be given the opportunity to represent the Ohio Section and compete at the June 2027 AWWA Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE) Fresh Ideas Poster Competition in San Diego, CA. Financial assistance for travel expenses, etc. will be provided for this trip.

Poster Presentations: The authors of the abstracts selected for the poster competition will be invited to prepare a poster about their topic. The posters will be displayed and judged during one of the conference days. Poster presenters are expected to arrive in the morning to set up their poster for display, and judging will take place in the late morning or early afternoon. Posters should be 36” x 48”. Following a 30-minute open-poster session period, each poster presenter will be given approximately 10 minutes to present their research/project to a qualified panel of judges with five minutes to field questions. The top three posters will be announced at the end of the poster session. These presenters will be given a $150 (1st), $100 (2nd), or $75 (3rd) cash award, a certificate, and a one-year complimentary AWWA student membership (if eligible).

Authorship: Only current or recently graduated (within approximately one calendar year of December 2025), undergraduate, and graduate students are eligible for this competition. Faculty advisors cannot be listed as co-authors. However, they may act in an advisory capacity. If there are any questions on this, please reach out to the contacts below.

Awards and photographs of the six prize winners will be announced in the official publication of the Ohio Section, the Ohio Section Newsletter. The cash awards will be OAWWA checks mailed to the recipients after the competition.

Click Here to Submit Abstract

2026 Fresh Ideas Student Competition Application

Instructions:
1. Abstract should be 500 to 1,000 words in length and double-spaced. Pages must be numbered.
2. Two pages of figures and/or tables can be appended to abstract.
3. Abstracts should be submitted by email and must be in PDF format. Save file as “Last Name_Abstract Title.”
4. The abstract title page should include the title and whether you are submitting for a technical talk presentation, poster presentation, or both. All information that identifies you personally (including your name, address, phone number, email, school name, etc.) should be omitted from the title page of the abstract and included on a separate page. When we receive your abstract, we will remove the page with your personal information to ensure that an unbiased decision is made by the qualified panel of judges.
5. Abstracts must be received by February 6, 2026, to be considered.