To recognise excellence in student research as well as promote awareness of our field, following the innovation introduced at CLiC-it 2017, and with the endorsement of AILC, we are awarding a prize for the best Master Thesis (Laurea Magistrale) in Computational Linguistics submitted at an Italian University. The prize consists of 500 euro plus free membership to AILC for one year and free registration to the upcoming CLiC-it 2018, where the author will have the chance to present her/his thesis.
MA theses submitted to and defended at any University in Italy within the yearly time frame specified in the call (see below) are eligible for the prize. The thesis should address a topic in computational linguistics or its applications, and may be written in Italian or English. The sub-areas involved are those listed in the yearly call for papers of the Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics (CLiC-it).
The candidates’ works will be evaluated by a jury composed by three members: one of the co-chairs of the previous CLiC-it conference, one co-chair of the current CLiC-it conference (who agrees to serve for two years, so as to ensure continuity), and a member of the board of AILC. The jury will decide in consensus to which candidate the prize will be awarded. The jury can also decide not to award a prize or to award the prize to a maximum of two candidates. In the latter case, the money prize will be shared.
Procedure:
- The 2018 thesis prize jury consists of Malvina Nissim (CLiC-it 2017 co-chair), Elena Cabrio (CLiC-it 2018 co-chair), and Cristina Bosco (AILC board member).
- MA theses defended between August 1st 2017 and July 31st 2018 are eligible for the 2018 prize.
- The supervisor of the thesis submits the thesis by September 15, 2018 with a motivation letter (1 page) that explains why the thesis deserves the prize.
- The thesis (in pdf) and the letter (in pdf) must be uploaded by the deadline via Easychair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=clicit2018), specifying “AILC Master Thesis Prize” as track.
- The jury will evaluate the submitted theses and provide a motivated decision before CLiC-it 2018, by November 15th.
- The prize will be awarded by a member of the Jury during CLiC-it 2018.
- The thesis must be available on-line, and will be presented during CLiC-it 2018 by the author.