Coral reefs and women’s healthcare—these were the topics of the winning student presentations at the Ballard Brief Showcase, hosted by the Ballard Center for Social Impact in 2025. As the students prepared their Ballard Briefs, they came to realize that researching, writing, and presenting are more than just academic skills—they can be tools for addressing social issues.
The presentations were the culmination of the students’ work in the BYU Marriott School of Business’s MSB 472R: Ballard Brief course. The research is published electronically in the Ballard Brief Research Library, an online database that attracted over one million views in 2024.
Before diving deep into analyzing research, students first decide on a topic: “You pick a social issue that you care about, and then you spend the whole semester writing about it,” says Paige Smith, a senior from Ogden, Utah, studying environmental science with a minor in global and community impact. Smith was inspired to write a Ballard Brief about coral reefs after completing a study abroad in Oceania.
As a biological sciences education senior, Grace Loveless from Billings, Montana, observed a dearth of research about women’s health as she researched the effect of menstrual cycles on metabolic measures. While Loveless trained for a marathon with a friend and shared her research, her friend suggested that if Loveless felt so passionate about the need for more research about women’s healthcare, she should consider writing a Ballard Brief about it.
But students weren’t just researching topics they were passionate about—they learned about research publishing and worked through a lengthy writing and editing process. Part of the writing process included extensive work with student editors—which came as somewhat of a surprise to Loveless. But as she worked through the process, she appreciated how seriously her editors took each draft.
Smith explains, “I knew writing the brief was going to be a lot of work, but editing was a lot of work. I’m really proud of my brief, and I know it’s because of all those people who helped me.”
After completing their briefs, some students applied to present their research at the Ballard Brief Summit. Smith was selected to present, and she practiced her presentation repeatedly and consulted with Ballard Brief’s editor in chief and marketing coordinator to prepare. Her preparation paid off: Smith won first place and a cash prize of $1,250. “After presenting, it was really cool to talk to some of the people in the audience and hear about how they connected with my presentation,” Smith says.
Loveless won second place and compared her preparation for the summit to a crash course on public speaking. In preparation for the event, Loveless aimed to make her delivery and slides appealing to the audience. “I was terrified to present, but it was a great experience,” she says.
Loveless says that writing and presenting her Ballard Brief helped her learn how to move beyond her passion for research and to communicate her findings with others. “You’re not going to get anywhere if there’s no awareness brought to a problem,” she says.