The Royal Aeronautical Society’s Bristol Branch Young Persons (YP) Lecture Competition is taking place again in 2026. This competition leads the Society’s prestigious NE Rowe Competition, which in 2025 was won by the winner of our Bristol Branch YP competition.
[Note that members of the public are invited to attend these presentation sessions to listen to the lectures by the competition participants – note the dates below. Further communication and tickets will be released closer to the time].
The rules for the RAeS Bristol Branch 2026 Lecture Competition are:
Age: This event is open to all up to and including the age of 29, with separate awards for two age categories: under 22 and under 30. The age criteria must be met on the day of the presentation.
Topic: Entrants are requested to provide an original presentation on any aspect of aerospace. “Originality” in this context does not imply a new discovery but that the entry has been put together by original effort from appropriate sources and has not previously been prepared for any other public presentation. More guidance on presentations on supervised academic projects is included in the NE Rowe Competition’s rules.
Duration: Presentations should be around 20 minutes, followed by a Q&A session.
Dates, Times, and Venues: Two presentation sessions will be held:
Under 22 – 23rd April from 6 – 9 pm at UWE Bristol
Under 30 – 28th April from 6 – 9 pm at University of Bristol
Assessment: All entries in each age category will be assessed by a panel comprising members of the Branch committee. Score cards will be used for this process in accordance with the Society’s NE Rowe Competition’s rules. All lectures, together with their Q&A sessions, will be video recorded.
Prizes: All entrants will be presented with a certificate of participation, and the following prizes will be awarded:
Winner in each age category: £250
Runner-up in each age category: £125
The certificates of participation will be presented at the end of each session. The prizes will be paid to the winners and the runners up via BACS after the session.
The winning lectures and others of merit will be publicised locally and nationally by the Branch and the Society.
Submission Deadline: All entries must be submitted via the entry submission form no later than 23:59 on Sunday, 12th April 2026. Each submission should include a presentation summary not exceeding 500 words.
The entry submission form can be found here or in the QR below.
If you do not hear back from the Bristol Branch by the 20th of April 2026, please email bristol@aerosociety.com
Acceptance of Entries: Entries that meet the stated criteria will be forwarded to the competition. Should there be more entries than can be accommodated during the two sessions, then entrants may be asked for more information, which will be used to choose those entries accepted for the competition.
National Competition: Following the Branch competition, the winning entries for each age category will, subject to each winner’s agreement, be entered for consideration in the main Society’s NE Rowe Competition. Each entry must be submitted by July 15th, 2026, and must include:
o The video of the lecture and Q&A session recorded by the Bristol Branch
o An electronic copy of the presentation summary in pdf format
o An electronic copy of the presentation material in PowerPoint or pdf format
o The assessment panel’s scoresheet
o An electronic copy of a written paper on the same topic as the presentation, ideally of 2000 to 3000 words.
The electronic copy of the presentation material should be provided prior to the presentation.
The written paper is not required for the Branch competition.
Results of the national NE Rowe Competition will be announced in late 2026 and the winners will each receive a medal and a prize of £500 from the Society, together with further national and international publicity.
For questions, please contact bristol@aerosociety.com
RAeS Bristol Branch 