Photo credit: Reed Beaman, NSF, BIO

The National Science Foundation [1] (NSF) and the American Institute of Biological Sciences [2](AIBS) launched the Beyond the Box National Digitization Innovation Competition [3] on December 5, 2014.

Through this competition, one million dollars will be awarded to the individual or team that “develops a novel way to accurately and efficiently capture digital images of insect specimens and their associated data from a standard museum drawer.”

Official contest rules and guidance are available at beyondthebox.aibs.org. [3] Questions about the contest must be submitted through the website, where the questions and answers will be posted.

The contest opened on Dec. 5 and will close on Sept. 4, 2015 EST at 11:59 p.m. A winner will be selected following a competitive judging process and on-site demonstration by the finalists.

To learn more, read the NSF press release [4], or visit the competition's Web site [3].