BANGOR – Hollywood Casino will be hosting the inaugural Maine Science Awards. The award ceremony will be produced by the Maine Discovery Museum with a call for entries and a list of categories to be unveiled in early June.
“The people and institutions in our state doing amazing work in the field of science deserve to be honored and recognized in this state,” Kate Dickerson, executive director of the Maine Discovery Museum, said. “Establishing this type of awards program to honor outstanding scientists, researchers, and science advocates making significant contributions across the state is long overdue. We are happy to be furthering our commitment to science by producing what we anticipate will become an annual event.”
The Maine Science Festival is a program of the Maine Discovery Museum. The festival will be celebrating its 12th year in 2027. The presenting sponsor for the Maine Science Awards is Hollywood Casino.
“We have world class research facilities, we have innovators, and we have incredible work being done right here in Maine,” Alton Buzzell, director of marketing at Hollywood Casino Bangor, said. “The Maine Science Festival has spent the last decade bringing the masses to Bangor and bringing science to those masses. This announcement of the Maine Science Awards coming to life with the Maine Discovery Museum leading the charge is a natural next step to honor the work being done.”
The awards themselves will be presented during a dinner at Hollywood Casino on Thursday, Oct. 15. That dinner will also serve as a fundraiser for the Maine Discovery Museum. The call for entries will be announced in early June, with complete details coming on the Maine Discovery Museum’s website.
In addition to the Maine Science Festival and Maine Science Awards, the Maine Discovery Museum also produces the Maine Science Podcast, Maine Invention Convention and has extensive science education and enrichment throughout Maine with our Science Around ME and Science Teacher Academy programs
Hollywood Casino Hotel & Raceway is a Penn Entertainment property located on Main Street in Bangor. Hollywood features a state-of-the-art gaming floor including nearly 800 slot machines, 16 table games including live poker and a Race Book simulcast betting parlor; 152 hotel rooms and suites; live music entertainment on the weekends and multiple dining options. Live harness racing takes place May-November. For more information, visit www.hollywoodcasinobangor.com.
Maine Discovery Museum’s mission is to help people of all ages discover the world around them through creative exploration and science. Founded 25 years ago in Bangor, MDM has grown into Maine’s statewide hub for informal public science education, serving approximately 75,000 people annually through on-site exhibits and community-based outreach programs. MDM is a 2025 National Medal awardee of the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the only museum in Maine to have received this honor in the 30-plus years of the award.
