Explain It Like I’m 6: An Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Education Contest
Welcome to the Explain It Like I’m 6: An Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Education Contest presented in partnership by CAN-AMR-Net, BioMérieux Inc. Canada, and the Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC).
AMR is a rapidly growing contributor to morbidity and mortality worldwide, with impacts beyond the field of infectious disease and fundamental research and into novel drug development. A future without effective antimicrobial therapies will affect all aspects of modern health care, from childhood illnesses and cancer treatments to organ transplantation and elder care.
With this in mind, we invite post-secondary students and recent graduates to get creative and explain an aspect of AMR in a way that a six-year-old would understand. After all, as the saying goes, if you can’t explain it to a child, you don’t understand it yourself.
The Challenge
Explain an aspect of antimicrobial resistance that you feel is crucial and/or often misunderstood in a way that a six-year-old would be able to understand.
This competition is open to recent (graduated within last 2 years) or current post-secondary students (including undergraduate, professional undergraduate, and graduate students), and postdoctoral fellows (including medical residents and fellows) at a Canadian post-secondary institution. Please use your institutional email address for your submission. Submissions received from personal emails will not be considered.
Submissions will be judged on creativity, relevance, clarity, and above-all accuracy. We are also looking for content that will resonate with audiences online and on social media. All submissions will be judged by representatives from CAN-AMR-Net, BioMérieux Canada, and EPIC. The Kids Choice Award will be decided based on input from first graders.
When submitting your entry, you will be asked to disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools. While the use of GenAI will not disqualify your submission, how it was used, the aspects of your submission it was used for, and the amount of original work put into your submission may be taken into consideration by the adjudication committee when evaluating overall effort.
Submissions can be either:
- Image: Maximum three, 1080 px by 1080 px each, .jpg or .png (Images will be submitted as a single file)
- Video: three minutes or less, shot vertical, provided as a YouTube link or other video sharing link.
One entry per participant, individual entries only. All submissions must be in English.
All entries must be original content, created for this competition, and free of copyright. We will announce the winners at the One Health: AMR & Emerging Zoonoses Conference and share their submissions on EPIC’s website and social media with credit to the applicant.
Select shortlisted entries will also be displayed on the EPIC, CAN-AMR-Net and bioMérieux Canada websites and social media channels with permission from the applicants. Applicants retain sole rights to their work and all submitted entries not selected for prizes or publication will be deleted from our records by May 1, 2026.
The winners will be determined by a panel of judges from CAN-AMR-Net, BioMérieux Canada, and EPIC, with expert consultation from a few classrooms of first graders.
Three prizes will be awarded in total:
- First place: $500
- Runner-up: $200
- Kid’s Choice Award: Special prize pack
We look forward to your submission!
Important dates
- Submissions open — November 19, 2025
- Contest closes — Feb 13, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST
- Winners announcement — One Health: AMR & Emerging Zoonoses Conference in Calgary, AB, on March 10-12, 2026.
Help us spread the word!
Download a PDF of the contest poster and share it with your friends, colleagues and students here: Explain_It_Like_im_6_AMR_Poster
If you have questions, please contact us at epic@utoronto.ca.