Looking for editing software for your Windows PC? It’s worth keeping an eye on Amazon’s weekly deals, as they’ve recently featured a few of the different packages. This week, for example, they have half-price offers on Corel VideoStudio X2 Pro Ultimate (that really is what it’s called, I’m not making this up!), and Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9 Pro Pack.

We hear lots of conflicting reports on essentially all software packages — what works for some people seems to crash constantly for others. So our advice is to download trial versions of the various packages, and see which works with your combination of computer and camera, before you buy.

The photos from the glittering Awards event at the Royal Institution are up: see portraits of the nominees and winners, the ceremony itself, and a glimpse behind-the-scenes of us setting up during the morning.

We’ll be scurrying around trying to caption and label as many of the stills as we can, but do jump in and leave notes and comments if you like. You should also be able to download full-size versions of each photograph by clicking the ‘All sizes’ button that appears above the image when you click through to its page.

Here’s the list of category winners for the Planet SciCast Awards 2009, as announced at the ceremony in London on Monday. I’m scrambling to upload the last few films, so you’ll see the links update shortly. After that, we’ve oodles of photos of the event to publish, then hopefully a bit of a video report to follow.

Congratulations to all the winners, and the other nominees who made it to the final stage and gave them such tough competition. It was lovely to see so many of you at the Royal Institution; I hope you had a fantastic day.

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films

Best Original Score 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

Best Presenter 2009

• The Floating Tea Bag — Teabag Techs

Best Biology Film 2009

• Photosynthesis — BB Productions

Best Chemistry Film 2009

• Chemistry Attack!! — LangClang

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009

• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Chemistry Demonstrations

The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009

• EMP Launcher v2 — The Tinkerers

The Institute of Physics’ Best SciCast Physics Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical

EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009

• It’s About Time (you switched off your television set and did physics instead) — Small Dog Productions

Best Film (Primary) 2009

• Absolute Absorbency or Not? — Barnes Primary 61!

Best Film (Secondary) 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films

Here are the Nominations for the Planet SciCast Awards 2009. Not all these films are viewable yet — we’ll be catching up as quickly as we can, so keep checking back to see which new ones we’ve published!

Best Presenter 2009

• Music to Our Ears — Thunderbolt Three
• Why do Boats Float? — Floating Physics
• Sound — Duke and Dave
• The Floating Tea Bag — Teabag Techs

Award for Technical & Artistic Achievement 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films
• Explaining Fibre Optics — Nower Hill High School
• Volcanic Islands — Helston Science
• How Wavelength Affects Pitch — Team Phree

Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009

• Wibbly Wobbly Jelly — Le Hom
• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Pressure and the Gas Laws — It’s Physics Time
• Boat Bother — Super Hero Scientists
• Relativity and Warp Drives — Space Hoppers
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

Best Original Score 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Transcription and Translation: The Latest Sensation! — Demented Student Productions
• Photosynthesis — BB Productions
• Levitating Lime — Team Jayman

Best Chemistry Film 2009

• Professor Hartley’s Science Lesson (2M) — Year 2M
• Chemistry Attack!! — LangClang
• Exploding Water — Team Tom
• The Screaming Jelly Baby — Josh & Mathew

Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009

• Breezeblocks — Legotown Productions
• Pollution — Aaarrgghh!! — Eagle Eye 9
• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Chemistry Demonstrations
• Volcanic Islands — Helston Science

Best Biology Film 2009

• Why do Ants Wear Sunglasses? — BaSSic Studios
• Photosynthesis — BB Productions
• Six Steps to a Perfect Poo — Helston Science
• Olympic Flowers — Badminton Junior School
• Mrs. Gren — Badminton Junior School

The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009

• Building Bridges — Treacherous Two
• Water Rockets — How They Work — SAS JGS Productions
• Death of a Toothbrush — Protons for Breakfast
• EMP Launcher v2 — The Tinkerers

The Institute of Physics’ Best SciCast Physics Film 2009

• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• Pollution — Aaarrgghh!! — Eagle Eye 9
• Explaining Fibre Optics — Nower Hill High School
• How Wavelength Affects Pitch — Team Phree
• Lasers — thegroupwithnoname
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009

• The Immiscible Love Story — Aksheusz Studios
• It’s About Time (you switched off your television set and did physics instead) — Small Dog Productions
• Buckley’s Double-Acting Baking Powder — Dan and Agnes
• Levitation: Science or Magic? — Shift Productions

Best Film (Primary) 2009

• Absolute Absorbency or Not? — Barnes Primary 61!
• Orbiting X-Factor — 5R Orbiting X-Factor Script Editors
• Mrs. Gren — Badminton Junior School
• Electricity — Team SciStars

Best Film (Secondary) 2009

• The God Particle — Vibrant Films
• The Geiger-Müller Groove — Let’s Get Physical
• The Formation of Crude Oil — Crazy Demonstrations
• Atmospheric Pressure — The Air Heads

Notes

Nominees will receive certificates, together with invitations to the glittering Awards Ceremony, to be held at the Royal Institution in London on 30^th March 2009. Category winners will be announced at the Ceremony: winning teams will receive individual mini-awards and a coveted ‘SciCastie’ block award for the team, along with Amazon vouchers.

Congratulations and good luck to all the nominees, and our thanks to everyone who submitted a film.

The Big Bang Fair is wrapping up, which means we finally have a bit of quiet (well, apart from people dismantling exhibition stands all around us…) to write up the nominations list.

Here we go…

2pm today. That’s the plan.

OOooooooh… suspense.

Due to popular demand, we're going to sneak a little information out about the 2009 Awards. Judging is happening now (Iain Stewart tells us he's watching the films from internet cafés in South-East Iran. Gosh), and if you haven't seen your film on the main site yet, don't panic - the judges have a special site just for them, which has all the 2008/9 films.

We're planning to announce the nominations next Friday, 6th March, here on the blog. Some of the precise wording of the category names might change (which is to say: you never quite know what's going to be written on a trophy until it comes back from the engravers), but more-or-less the categories are:

• Best Presenter 2009
• Best Original Score 2009
• Award for Technical and Artistic Achievement 2009
  
• Best Biology Film 2009
  
• Best Chemistry Film 2009
  
• Best Earth Science and Environment Film 2009
• The Engineering and Technology Board Best Engineering Film 2009
• The Flipside Most Entertaining Film 2009
• The Institute of Physics Best Physics Film 2009
• EPSRC Best Film (Adults) 2009
• Best Film (Primary) 2009
• Best Film (Secondary) 2009

We liked last year's trophies, they're good weighty things that look terrific in a display case, but up close some of them were a little wonky. Now, the best SciCast films also tend to be a little scruffy around the edges, so we weren't worried, but we knew we had to change the design for the big SciCast d'Or trophy for Best Film. It just about survived this photo, but it was already in several pieces by then, and it didn't survive the afternoon. Oops.

Behold, then, the test shots of the SciCast Awards 2009 - they look like this:

Andrew Hanson at the National Physical Laboratory has been busy again, cutting together this film of the brilliant Richmond Science Film Festival, held late last year.

You’ll see lots of Richmond films appearing on the SciCast website in the coming days and weeks, and they’ll be back for even more with their 2009 event this autumn.

Also watch out for at least one more SciCast-affiliated regional competition. Details soon!

You may have noticed, over on the main site, a bit of a development.

That’s right, the floodgates are open, and new films are pouring — mark you, pouring — in, and will continue to do so for the next few days.

Take a look, and don’t forget to leave comments for the film-makers to read.

I won’t flood this blog with updates every time I publish a film, but if you want that level of detail you’ll find it at our Twitter page. At the time of writing, it’s pointing you to the wonderful Immiscible Love Story.