The Olympics are always an inspiring showcase of exceptional talent, teamwork, and human ingenuity–from
the amazing athletic performances, to the cooperative work that goes into each host city’s preparations, to
the broadcasting innovations that bring the excitement to viewers in more than 200 countries. But during
the COVID-19 pandemic, these achievements have taken on an even more triumphant significance, as both
a reminder of what humans are capable of and an uplifting escape for the world to collectively cheer. And
standards play a key role in the collaborative work that enables Olympic dreams to become a reality for the
thousands of competitors and staff involved, and a vicarious thrill for the billions watching around the globe.
Due to the rescheduling of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics to July/August 2021, we now have the unique
pleasure of both the summer and winter Olympics occurring within a year’s time, with Beijing in February
2022. To highlight the importance of standards in these global sports celebrations, the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) 2022 Student Paper Competition asks you to explore the use of – or identify an
absence of/need for – standards that support health, safety, performance, efficiency, and/or innovation at
the Olympic Games.
It’s a broad topic, and you’re free to choose to focus on standards needs for your favorite summer or winter
sport, event, or other specific activity at the Tokyo or Beijing games, or take a wider look at standards
addressing any of the unique planning needs, building/venues, travel, accommodations, technology/
systems, infrastructure, and/or health and safety requirements that go into hosting a safe and successful
Olympics. Whatever aspect of the Olympics you choose, we recommend that you focus on specific
challenges that have been or need to be addressed by voluntary consensus standards – for example,
for athletes to compete safely, fairly, and at their highest potential; so that host cities can successfully
accommodate the games while maintaining or improving quality of life for their citizens; to enable
enhancements in broadcasting, communications, or audience health and safety.
You should reference specific American National Standards and/or international standards and the
organizations responsible for their development whenever possible. Suggested resources:
- Learn more about voluntary consensus standards and American National Standards
- Search a list of approved American National Standards
- Search the organizations accredited by ANSI to develop American National Standards
- Search for international standards from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
- Search for international electrotechnical standards from the International ElectrotechnicalCommission (IEC)
- Check out some user-friendly ANSI resources that show the breadth of standards’ impact
- Search ANSI’s online news archive or www.ansi.org for more information
You can also browse the official Olympic Games website for inspiration on what goes into an Olympic
games. But be creative, and choose a topic that both appeals to you and highlights the importance of
specific standards in supporting health/safety, innovation, and/or success for Olympic athletes, host cities,
and/or audiences worldwide.
All entries must be submitted by 11 p.m. Eastern on June 1, 2022, to Lisa Rajchel, lrajchel@ansi.org, and
must adhere to the following requirements:
- Be written and submitted by student(s) (associate, undergraduate, or graduate, in any discipline) enrolled full- or part-time during the period of September 2021 to May 2022 at an institute of higher education located in the United States or its territories
- Include a title and a list of names of all contributing authors, their contact details, and the affiliated institute of higher education • Be prefaced with an abstract of no more than 400 words
- Be less than 2,000 words (not including requirements #2 and #3 above, notes, tables, charts, and a bibliography which may not exceed 3 pages)
- Be in English and suitable for publication (final editing assistance will be provided before publication of winning papers)
- Be submitted in electronic format, preferably Microsoft Word or other revisable format, in 12-point type size
- Please spell and grammar check before submitting
- Be original and not previously published (copyright will remain with the author; winners grant publication rights to ANSI, as well as the right to release entries to other media)
Submissions will be reviewed by top-level industry experts participating on ANSI’s Committee on Education
(CoE) as well as by ANSI staff. Winning entries will be published on ANSI.org and potentially in other
media outlets. Winning submissions will be shared with and widely read by the domestic and international
standards community, including experts in government, industry, professional societies, and academic
institutions. Cash prizes will be given to first- and second-place winners; ANSI reserves the right to award
no prizes based on the determination of the judges. The winning papers will be announced in Q3 2022.