Winners of the Ten-Hundred and One Word Challenge Contest

The Ten Hundred and One Word Challenge invited the 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to represent their science in images, cartoons, photos, words and original paintings, but any descriptions or words could only use the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language, with the addition of one word important to each of the EFRCs and the mission of DOE: energy.

The Challenge was inspired by Up Goer Five, a comic by xkcd.com where the cartoonist describes the complicated blueprint of the Saturn V rocket using only the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language.

Thirty-one teams took up the challenge, and submitted a diverse array of highly creative and visually captivating entries that told the story of the innovative, ground-breaking science performed in the EFRCs. The Office of Science is pleased to announce the six winning posters:

Overall Winner

Powering your car with sun light

Center for Lignocellulose Structure and Formation led by Pennsylvania State University

Overall Winner Runner-up

Using all the Energy from the Sun to Make Power

Center for Energy Nanoscience led by the University of Southern California

Overall Winner Runner-up and People's Choice Winner

When small is better than BIG

Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics led by Los Alamos National Laboratory

Best Science Lesson

Not Your Normal Power Box

Center for Electrical Energy Storage led by Argonne National Laboratory

Best Tagline

The walk forward of sun-grown green-thing energy

Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels led by Purdue University