How to Enter the ACE Festival

The Academic and Creative Excellence Festival provides EMU students with the opportunity to share their ideas and showcase their academic accomplishments by entering proposals for two basic types of entries; an oral presentation or a poster.

In addition, the festival will feature a variety of special events to showcase visual and performing arts. Participation in these events will be coordinated by the Music and Visual & Communication Arts Departments. 

The entry and approval process for posters and oral presentations is as follows:

Identify your Faculty Mentor

Student entrants must be supervised by a faculty mentor, who will review and pre-approve abstracts before submission. The mentor will generally be the faculty member who has worked most closely with the student on the project, i.e. the professor of the class in which the project was completed, or the research supervisor. A faculty member may require students in a particular course or encourage individual students to submit work for the festival. Students may also take initiative to ask a faculty member to serve as their mentor.

Faculty mentors should remain in communication with their academic department about projects they are mentoring. (Faculty may decline to mentor projects not deemed suitable for entry into the Festival.) 

Write an Abstract

The student will write an abstract and submit it to their faculty mentor. The abstract is a summary description of the project that will be presented. The abstract should consist of a project title and a paragraph summary of 300 words or less. The abstract should include the broad goal of the project, the research methods, as well as a minimal number of references to relevant background literature. Be sure to include the names of any co-authors of the work. Once the abstract has been pre-approved by the faculty mentor, the proposal is ready to be submitted to the festival for consideration.

Note that while the abstract may be updated later (prior to publication), the initial version should be as complete as possible at this time. The decision to approve a project for inclusion in the Festival will be based on this initial version.

Submit an Entry Form

Students are responsible to submit their own proposals, no later than March 14, 2025. Submit one entry form (including the abstract) for each proposed presentation or poster. 

The information submitted in this form will be used for later publicity and communication. Please check for accuracy of all information (i.e. project titles, correct names, spelling and capitalization, etc.)

In the form, the entrant will be asked to identify themes associated with the project they are entering. Please check all themes that apply. This information may be used to organize interdisciplinary sessions grouped around common themes, to facilitate cross-departmental engagement around topics that matter to us at EMU.

Note that poster entries are to consist of a poster only. Space for additional display items will generally not be available. Exceptions may be made in cases where a project entails the creation of a three-dimensional product. Space for such display items may be requested in the entry form.

The 2025 ACE Festival entry form will open after the Thanksgiving break in November 2024.

The Review Process

After the submission deadline, proposals will be forwarded to the departments for evaluation and selection. We define scholarship broadly to include both praxis and the generation of new knowledge. While both small and large questions matter, the quality of the research method(s) as well as the quality of the reporting will be most important in determining whether the work should be included in the festival.

Departments will return their list of selected entries to the festival coordinator no later than March 24, 2025.

Notification emails indicating acceptance of entries will be sent to students by March 31. 

Students whose entries are accepted will be given the opportunity to update their abstracts, to prepare a final version for publication online. Abstracts may again be reviewed by the faculty mentor at this time. A form will be provided for updated abstracts to be submitted by the student no later than April 8. If no update is submitted by this date, the original version will be used.

Prepare your Presentation

Students should carefully prepare their presentation or poster in consultation with their faculty mentor and in accordance with the festival requirements. Time limits and presentation guidelines must be strictly observed.

The final schedule of the Festival will be released by April 7, 2025.

Abstracts will be posted online no later than April 14, 2025.