*Students are defined as actively enrolled in a collegiate under or graduate school
Young Professional members are individuals who are age 35 or younger

The Illinois Section of the American Water Works Association (ISAWWA) is pleased to announce an opportunity for students and young professionals (YPs) to share the results of their work and/or academic projects. 

Applicants will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Originality • Relevance of Topic • Technical Content

 

Posters should conform to the guidelines indicated on the accompanying guideline document.

Information presented on posters can cover a diverse range of topics including:

Advanced Water Treatment & Technologies Asset Management, Renewal and Replacement Conservation, Water Use Efficiency, and Water Loss Design, Construction, and Delivery Distribution, Plant Operations, and Maintenance Finances, Affordability, and Rate Setting Emerging Topics, New Technologies Regulatory & Legislative Source Water Protection Small Systems Issues Smart Water, IT, Data Science, I & C, Automation Stakeholder Engagement and Consumer Outreach Stormwater Management Water Quality and Treatment Water Resources and Planning, Climate Impacts Water Reuse Issues Wastewater Collection, Treatment, Resource Recovery Utility Planning and Management Utility Risk and Resilience, and Cybersecurity

Presentation Contest Details

Entry forms must be submitted by January 30, 2026.

• Selected participants will be notified within two weeks of the January 30, 2026 deadline (February 13).
• Topics will be presented in MS PowerPoint format.  Each participant is allowed 15 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes to answer questions from judges.
• Presentation Contest will take place at WATERCON 2026, April 14-16, 2026.
  
• Prizes: Winner is entered in the AWWA national poster competition at ACE26. ISAWWA will reimburse the costs for attending ACE up to $1,000. 
• The winner of the ISAWWA Presentation Contest will be required to convert their presentation materials to the acceptable ACE26 format.

THE FINE PRINT:
The first place poster will be entered in the national AWWA poster competition, which will take place during the week of June 21-24, 2026, in Washington, DC. The presentation will need to be converted to a hard copy poster for presentation at ACE26, or modified to meet the requirements for the national competition.  Only the presenter(s) who presented the winning virtual poster at WATERCON 2026 will be sponsored by ISAWWA to attend the national AWWA conference in Washington, DC (absent team members may not take their place). If the presenter(s) are not able to attend the national AWWA conference, the second place presentation will be promoted to the first place poster, and the presenter sponsored to attend the national AWWA conference.  MORE INFORMATION ON THE ACE26 POSTER SESSION. 

SUBMISSION:
Complete the online form below.
For inquiries email lindsay@isawwa.org or call 866-521-3595 ext. 6

JUDGING CATEGORIES:

• Benefit to the water industry
• Technical content
• Quality and professionalism of presentation
• Thoroughness of responses during Q&A
• Organization and clarity of poster presentation

If your entry is selected for presentation at WATERCON 2026, you will receive a confirmation email within 2 weeks of your submission informing you if your topic has been selected for the Presentation Contest.

Item Name		Posted By	Date Posted
Lending Library Information PDF (34.68 KB)		Administration	12/1/2011
AWWA National Poster Competition Guidelines PDF (49.71 KB)		Administration	11/22/2011