Review of submissions

In-house Staff Review of Submissions

The Origin-of-Life Science Foundation, Inc. staff shall screen and eliminate, if necessary, submissions which fail to meet requisite requirements. In cases of in-house staff rejection of submissions, the full submission fee will be returned. Every effort will be made first to resolve minor difficulties (such as missing required forms) with submitters prior to rejection of any submission. In-house staff rejections will result in personal communications with the submitters within a maximum of four weeks after receipt of the submission at the Foundation.

In-house staff will refrain from making substantive judging determinations. Only administrative checks will be made by staff to ensure all submissions are complete, relevant to the focus of The Gene Emergence Project, and comply with the rules and requirements of the Prize.

In cases where the submission clearly fails to address the points of interest around which the Prize offer centers, the Foundation may suggest that submitters withdraw their submissions to avoid a high likelihood of wasting their application fee. In such cases, however, the submitters must forward written notice of such withdrawal within two weeks of the Foundation’s suggestion. Without such written notice within two weeks, the Foundation shall proceed with the judging process. Once a submission is mailed out to first-tier judges, refund of the submission fee shall not be made.

Communications with applicants

Applicants should receive initial acknowledgment of reception of a submission by the Foundation within three weeks. In-house staff reviews for rules compliance will typically be completed within six weeks. Information regarding judging tier status will be forwarded every six months from the date of receipt.

Submitters will likely be notified of any negative decisions by the lowest tier of judges within six months of the receipt of submissions. Serious contenders for the Prize can expect to wait 12 months before official announcement of the judges’ decision. This assumes the concurrent three-year-from-date-of-publication requirement has also been met.

Applicants will likely be alerted that their submission is receiving serious consideration well before the 12 months have elapsed since receipt of their submission. Such notification should not be construed to mean that the Prize will necessarily be awarded to those applicants. The Foundation simply wishes to be as forthright and supportive as possible in its statements concerning the current disposition of submissions during the long waiting period.

In the event the judges decide to award the Prize to a particular applicant, the Foundation will make every attempt to notify the winner/s well in advance of discovery and publication by the news media. The Foundation takes no responsibility, however, for information “leaked to the press” ahead of time.

Failure to win

An applicant failing to win the Prize may request a brief summary of the judges’ general reasons for not awarding the Prize for that submission.

The decision of the judges for that submission is irrevocable, noncontestable, and final. The Foundation and its judges will be pleased to review subsequent submissions containing new publications. Subsequent submissions will be subject to the same requirements as initial submissions, including new forms, essay, and application fee.

Website updates

The Foundation reserves the right to revise the rules and requirements for winning The Origin-of-Life Prize. ® Once a submission is received, however, the rules and requirements in effect five days prior to date-stamped receipt of a submission shall govern the judging of that particular submission. Applicants must agree, as a condition of applying for the Prize, to be bound by the Foundation’s Application Policy and Rules posted on its internet site as of the above specified date.

Please reread the most recent posted website update on the day prior to your submission. Application forms require filling in the date of your last reading of the rules posted on the website.