NJRSF Judging Process

Category judging takes place on Friday from 7:00-9:30 p.m. Each category is assigned a group of judges with a captain. Each project is judged by a minimum of 3 judges. At the end of the evening, projects are placed (1st, 2nd, or 3rd ) and honorable mentions are awarded. The judging follows a common standard for all categories based on the ISEF judging guidelines. Projects are not placed based on the quality within a specific category. As a result, a category may include two projects that can receive the same placement (i.e. two projects can be awarded first place). Similarly, it is not necessary that every category will award a first, second and third place. For example at the discretion of the judging committee, no first place may be awarded based on the quality of projects in that category.

Special awards judging takes place on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. till noon. The types of special awards vary from being specific science areas, like the Ceramic Society Award, to more general awards such as the Homebuilt Apparatus Award. Hence, projects may be visited by varying number of judges depending on their eligibility for the different awards.

On Saturday morning, the ISEF panel comprising captains from the individual categories determines the finalists for the ISEF trip awards. A maximum of fifteen finalists are selected from the first and second place category winners. At least five finalists are selected from the junior division. All finalists give a ten minute presentation to the judging panel at the ISEF symposium, which is held Saturday afternoon from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Following the ISEF panel presentations, four winners are chosen for the trip awards, two from the junior division and two from the senior division.

Team Projects (new for 2010)

In the past, team projects were judged at the same time as the individual projects, and, usually, were not considered for ISEF participation, except under special circumstances. In 2010 (and going forward) this has changed, thanks to a special grant from AT&T Labs, in support of the extra expenses of the team trips to ISEF. We are now planning to send one team project from each division of the fair to ISEF. The judging of the team projects will deviate from the procedure outlined above. The procedure planned for 2010 is given here, subject to change as we have time to consider things further.

The first step in the judging will be identical: the same team of category judges will interview all projects Friday evening. However, they will score and rank the team projects separately, making separate recommendations to *two* ISEF panels, one for individual projects (as above) and a new one for team projects. The team ISEF panel will conduct further interviews on Saturday morning, focusing on the team projects recommended from the night before, in both divisions of the fair. Due to time and space considerations, the team projects will NOT present in the symposium, but rather may be called back for further interviews during Saturday afternoon. The exact plans and mechanism for coordinating this have not yet been determined, and it may prove unnecessary, since the number of team projects is smaller than the number of individual projects. We ask your patience as we work to refine this process in 2010 and beyond.