Competitor Information

The deadline has passed to submit videos to the first round of the 2025-26 Three Minute Thesis competition. Judging for the first round of this year's competition will take place the first few weeks of January, and finalists will be announced in late January.

Join us in person or tune in live to the final round of the competition, taking place Saturday, March 28, at the Nittany Lion Inn, University Park. The livestream link will be added to this page once available.

On this Page
Schedule
Eligibility
Awards
Format
Preparing Your Presentation

Competition Schedule

Submit Your Video

Monday, September 15: Video submissions are open.
Friday, December 5: Video submissions are closed.

First Round

Monday, January 5-Friday, January 16, 2026: First-round judging will take place online.
Week of January 19: First-round results will be released.

Final Round

Saturday, March 28, 2026: The final round will be livestreamed from the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus.

Eligibility

To participate, you must be a doctoral, master's, law, or medical student. You should also have completed enough of your research that you can share results and discuss conclusions.

Graduate students from all Penn State campuses are encouraged to compete. Students must be able to attend the final round in person (Saturday, March 28 at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus) to be eligible. Limited travel reimbursement funds are available and are awarded on a case-by-case basis.

A graduate student's faculty adviser(s) must approve their participation in the competition.

Penn State employees can participate in the competition but are unable to win prize money.

All graduate and professional students are eligible to participate in Penn State's competition and compete for prize money, but only master's and doctoral students are eligible for the regional or national competitions.

Awards

First Place: $1,000
Second Place: $500
People's Choice: $500 (sponsored by the Graduate and Professional Student Association)

Competition Format

: Open call to any Penn State graduate student conducting research to submit three-minute videos, which will be judged by a panel that includes alumni, faculty, staff, and others. The top group of finalists will be invited to the final round.
: The final round will be livestreamed from the University Park campus and will include a people’s choice prize selected by audience ballots.
: Penn State’s overall winner will be invited to the regional 3MT competition hosted by the Northeast Association of Graduate Schools. Winners of the regional competition are invited to the national competition hosted by the Council of Graduate Schools.

Preparing Your Presentation

A single static PowerPoint slide is permitted. No slide transitions, animations, or 'movement' of any type are allowed. The slide is to be presented from the beginning of the oration.
No additional electronic media (e.g. sound and video files) are permitted.
No additional props (e.g. costumes, musical instruments, laboratory equipment) are permitted.
Presentations are limited to three minutes maximum and competitors exceeding three minutes will be disqualified.
Presentations are to be spoken word (e.g. no poems, raps, or songs).
Presentations are to commence from the stage. *Note: Does not apply to videos.
Presentations are considered to have commenced when a presenter starts their presentation through either movement or speech.
The decision of the adjudicating panel is final.

Filmed horizontally
Filmed on a plain background
Filmed from a static position
Filmed from one camera angle
Contain a presentation slide, which can be displayed continuously or periodically as many times as you'd like
Audio must be continuous – no sound edits or breaks

Competitors will not be judged on video quality or editing capabilities. Judging will focus on the presentation, ability to communicate research to a non-specialist audience, and presentation slide.

You can record your presentation using any technology available to you, including your phone camera, Zoom, PowerPoint, or Penn State’s One Button Studio.
Refer to the official 3MT Competitor Guide for suggestions on how to put your slide and presentation together.
Review the judging criteria so you know how your presentation will be evaluated.
3MT debuted at the University of Queensland in 2008, so you can search the internet for past competitor videos to understand how competitors have structured their presentations.
Have fun! This is an opportunity for you to hone your communication skills and share your research with a broad community.