The 2025 New York Section of the American Chemical Society Chemagination Competition was held on Friday, March 7th, 2025 at St. John's University, Queens NY from 10AM to 2PM.  Chemagination consists of a poster session and judging, followed by a presentation for the students and the award ceremony.

For this event, high school students are asked to imagine that they are living 25 years in the future and have been invited to write an article for ChemMatters, a magazine for high school students that focuses on the role of chemistry in everyday life.  The subject of the article is: 

"Describe a recent breakthrough or innovation in chemistry (and/or its applications) that has improved the quality of people's lives today."

To view a sample ChemMaters magazine, click here.  

In addition to the article, students are asked to design a cover for the magazine.  The article must be written as if the student were living in 2050, looking back on innovations that have occurred since 2025.  The innovation must  fit in one of following categories: 

                                 Alternative Energy               Environment                 Medicine/Health                 New Materials. 

A few examples of areas where development is expected are nanotechnology, energy efficiency, pollution prevention, green chemistry, sustainability, intelligent devices for sensing, proteomics, climate models, microplastic remediation, biopharmaceutical therapies, medical devices, and/or implants and new energy sources.  

Evaluation of the entry is based upon:

1.     the written article which is submitted in advance
2.     the knowledge and soundness of the science as demonstrated in the article and during the poster session

First place category winners from Local ACS Sections' Chemagination contests are eligible to participate in the regional Chemagination contest at the 2025 Middle Atlantic Regional Meeting at Seton Hall University on May 31, 2025. 

For further information, please contact the NY ACS Chemagination Coordinatrors, Dr. Carlos Chavez  and Dr. Shanzhi Wang

• be written by a team of two or three studnets, each student may only be on only one team
• be about 1000 words (figure captions are not included in the  limit)
• present the chemistry/scientific concepts/ideas/principles behind the innovation
• present a   'history' of the changes that had to occur over the 'past' 25 years (starting from 2025). to develop the innovation
• include drawings, diagrams, illustrations, and descriptions of the chemistry and any technology involved in all key aspects of the innovation
• cite a minimum of three technical references
• include a cover design for the magazine.  The. cover design can be an original computer graphic or a free-hand drawing

• Winners are selected by the judges based on the quality of the articles and the quality and understanding of the science of the innovation
• Criteria for scoring include scientific thought, creativity, clarity, thoroughness and teamwork

• All students must be currently enrolled in an accredited high school or home school and be taking or have recently completed grades 9-12 science class
• All entries become the property of the ACS and will not be acknowledged or returned
• The ACS, its agents and contractors, are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected or postage-due entries
• Acceptance of the prize constitutes consent to use the winner's names, likenesses, and entries for editorial, advertising, and publicity purposes.
• Prizes are not transferable
• Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the winner