Before your first degree
For people who have not completed their first degree, including school students, undergraduates and hobbyists without a completed degree.
Optional prize competition
The competition
The competition recognises explanations of problems in the AIM collection of open applied problems on GitHub. A paper can focus entirely on the mathematics behind an application. A new proof or a solved conjecture is not required. Entries may be papers or videos; videos may be at most ten minutes.
Competition entries close on . Submit a paper or a video of at most ten minutes explaining an entry in the AIM open applied problems repository through the common contribution page. Entering the competition is optional and subject to the eligibility below. The library welcomes everyone throughout the year. You can also suggest new problems in the source repository.
Judges and prizes
Judges
To be confirmed.
Prizes and publication
Winning entries receive a cash prize and a certificate. Selected explanations will also be brought together in a curated publication, with authorship credit for their contributors.
The competition celebrates work that improves human understanding of mathematics, applications or proof ideas. Authors approve the public text and attribution before their work is published.
Eligibility
Competition strands
Graduate students & postdocs
For graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at academic institutions.
Library submissions
The library is open to everyone throughout the year. You can contribute whether or not you qualify for or enter the competition.
You do not need to have solved the problem or written its proof. Problems listed as open, partially resolved, claimed, solved or Lean verified are all in scope. For an open entry, explain the exact target, application or significance, known cases and what remains open. Cite any proof or result you discuss and credit its mathematical authors.
Multiple explanations of a problem
Multiple separate posts, papers or videos on the same problem or conjecture are welcome in the library and the competition. An existing explanation does not reserve the topic. Different perspectives can help different readers, and the value of an entry does not depend on being first to explain or prove the conjecture.
Entering the competition
Use the common submission form, confirm eligibility and choose the optional competition checkbox if you want to enter. Degree and current academic status details are requested only after you opt in, to help the organisers confirm your strand. Library-only submissions do not need these details. Leaving the checkbox unticked submits to the library only.
Joint submissions and mixed teams
Credit every author on all joint submissions. If you opt into the competition, provide each author’s degree and current status for eligibility review. A joint competition entry can be associated with one eligible member of the team: name that person as the competition entrant. Mixed teams should contact the organisers to confirm the arrangement; the other authors retain their authorship credit.
Contribute and optionally enter the competition →The entry
Submission formats
A readable paper
State the audience, prerequisites and what readers will understand better. You might show how new mathematics clarifies an application, explain a conjecture’s significance, or develop a worked example. That can be a complete paper in its own right. If you discuss a proof, give the statement, key ideas and enough detail to follow it. Cite the AIM problem record and your sources, and make your explanatory contribution clear.
A clear, self-contained explanation matters more than a particular page count.
A short video
At most 10 minutes in total, including opening and closing material. Use readable notation, explain the transitions, and choose context or worked examples that help the viewer understand. Supply a plain-text transcript so reviewers can follow the argument without downloading anything.
Papers and videos are alternative formats, not separate competition strands.
Judging
Assessment criteria
The judges assess accuracy, clarity and how well the entry explains the problem, an application or a proof to its intended audience. An application-focused paper is judged on the understanding it provides; it does not need to add a new theorem or resolve a conjecture. Different accounts of the same conjecture are assessed on their own explanatory merits, with no priority for being first. The difficulty or sophistication of the mathematics gives no automatic advantage. A changed claim or missing essential step cannot be made up for by presentation.
Authorship and attribution
The people who create the explanation are its authors and receive primary credit, both in the library and in any competition publication. Cite the AIM problem record and sources, and credit the mathematical authors of results or proofs you discuss. As relevant, acknowledge problem formulation, earlier partial results, expository sources, checking and formalisation, as well as collaborators and reused code or illustrations. Contributions with or without AI assistance are equally welcome and assessed on the same explanatory merits; participation does not require using or endorsing AI. Describe any AI assistance and how you checked its output. The entrant remains responsible for the explanation. Lean verification is optional and does not replace a readable account.
Publication in the library
Accepted paper and video entries receive public pages in the library. Video entries include a transcript. Authors approve the public text and credit before publication. Library publication does not depend on entering or winning the competition. The library remains open throughout the year. Questions about joint submissions can be sent to the organisers before submitting.