A team of geosciences graduate students from UNL earned second place in the international finals of the Imperial Barrel Competition, an annual contest sponsored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. The team members were presented with a trophy and $10,000 on June 8 in Denver.

The competition attracted teams from 89 universities from around the world. The UNL team was narrowly defeated at the finals by a team from Lomonosov State University in Moscow, Russia, in a contest that judges announced was almost too close to call.

This is the first year UNL has competed for the International Barrel Award. Team members are Brian Blackstone of Casper, Wyo., Charles Kittinger “Kit” Clark of Pasadena, Calif., Jessica Pritchard of Spring, Texas, and Matthew Corbett of Boston. Their faculty adviser is Chris Fielding, professor of geosciences.

UNL students also received additional prizes at the APPG meeting. Corbett received an award for Best Student Poster Presentation, for his work on Mesozoic rock sequences in the Henry Mountains of Utah. Second prize in the same contest went to Blackstone, for his work on Cenozoic rock sequences drilled during the recent ANDRILL expedition to the McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.