As social and behavioral researchers, we expect you have a story you could tell about your work and what it’s meant to the world outside your laptop. We’re giving you the chance to share that story in our second annual Impact Storytelling Contest, with a $500 prize for each winning submission and the opportunity to get your impact story heard by our broad community of social researchers, practitioners and policy influencers.

We’re looking for accounts of research that made a difference, presented in a way that captures the imagination of people outside your circle. This could be:

• A short write-up of 500-1000 words
• An audio recording
• A video
• Or a multi-media mixture of your choice

As a joint venture of Social Science Space and our parent SAGE Publishing, the Impact Storytelling Contest aims to show how good science makes for better lives. Your Impact Story should reference what you studied, how you studied it, and how the lessons learned from your study were applied – or could be applied – to policy and practice. This application could also be a recommendation for further research that will help to demonstrate the impact of your work.

This is a great opportunity for early-career researchers looking to make a mark in your field or get your research known by a wider audience (though submissions from researchers at all career levels are welcome!) Your story will not only be published on Social Science Space, but also disseminated to SAGE Publishing’s global network of social and behavioral scientists, policymakers, instructors and change-makers.

We’re looking for submissions that support our belief that the work of social and behavioral scientists is crucial to the advancement and improvement of society. The Impact Storytelling Competition comes as part of an ongoing SAGE initiative to demonstrate, measure and promote impact in the social and behavioral sciences.

Winners will be selected based on the type and measure of impact demonstrated, the flair in your writing or presentation, and the strength of the underlying research. In order to be considered, your Impact Story must be created in a format that can be shared online, and must be your original work, not previously published or submitted to any other publication. It should also be noted that we’re not asking for research articles, though if the work did result in a report or journal article, please include a link. If your work benefitted from any public funding, please include a mention of that, too.

How to enter

Please send your submission to socialsciencespace@sagepub.com, and include Impact Contest in the subject line.

Deadline for applications: 6 p.m. PST on December 14,^, 2020.

If you have any questions about the competition, please reach out to us at socialsciencespace@sagepub.com.

Winners will be notified no later than January 11, 2021. Creators of accepted submissions will be asked to sign a publishing agreement granting SAGE and Social Science Space the right to publish your submission.