BL4S Wins the 2025 European Physical Society Outreach Prize
The Beamline for Schools (BL4S) program, led by CERN in collaboration with the DESY Laboratory in Germany, has been awarded the 2025 Outreach Prize by the European Physical Society’s High Energy and Particle Physics (EPS-HEPP) Committee. The prestigious prize recognizes BL4S for offering a unique opportunity to high school students around the world to propose, conduct, and be inspired by real experiments in particle physics.
Strong Participation from Türkiye, High Hopes for 2025
The BL4S program was launched in 2014 as part of CERN’s 60th anniversary celebrations and has been held annually since. Prof. Dr. Serkant Ali Çetin, faculty member at İstinye University and the national contact person for Türkiye, expressed his pride and enthusiasm about the award:
“BL4S is an extraordinary program that introduces young minds to the fascinating world of particle physics. It is more than just a competition—it’s a global scientific mobilization for youth. The interest in the program worldwide is remarkable, but what’s even more exciting is that Türkiye leads in the number of participating teams.”
“Türkiye Leads in Global Application Rankings”
Prof. Dr. Çetin emphasized the long-term support provided to Turkish high school students in preparing for the competition, noting that these efforts have placed Türkiye at the forefront of the BL4S global application rankings:
“Between 2014 and 2024, BL4S received more than 3,000 project proposals worldwide, over 400 of which came from Türkiye. For years, we have been organizing training sessions to encourage students to develop experimental proposals. The growing interest in these trainings aligns perfectly with Türkiye’s leading position among applicant countries. Every year, more of our teams pass the pre-selection stage or win special awards. I sincerely hope 2025 will be the year a Turkish team wins the main prize for the first time.”
In 2025, the competition received 508 submissions from 72 countries. The results are expected to be announced in the coming days.
Award Ceremony to Be Held in Marseille
The 2025 EPS Outreach Prize will be officially presented during the EPS-HEP Conference, which will take place in Marseille, France, from July 7 to 11, 2025. The award continues to serve as a powerful motivator in the mission to bring science closer to the younger generations.
