There are two types of judging that takes place during the Science Fair. Oneis called "Category" judging and the other is called "SpecialAwards" judging.

Category Judging

The term "category" refers to the 13fields of science into which student entries are grouped. The purpose ofCategory judging is to select the student entries that will be awarded 1st, 2nd,3rd, and honorable mention place awards that are awarded by the science fairitself (the "fair awards"). In addition, Category judges select theGrand Prize winners for the fair.

  BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES                             PHYSICAL SCIENCES
BE     Behavioral & Social Sciences          CH     Chemistry
BI       Biochemistry                                        CO     Computer Science
BO     Botany                                                    EA     Earth & Space Sciences
ME     Medicine & Health                               EN     Engineering
MI       Microbiology                                        EV     Environmental Sciences
ZO      Zoology                                                 MA     Math
                                                                            PH     Physics
                                   TM     Team Projects
Team projects consist of 2-3 students that are judged in a multidisciplinary competition for Place, Trip and other awards.

Category judging is performed by a team of judges lead by a team captain.Once the fair awards winners have been selected, the 1st place winner in all ofthe categories are judges by the team captains to determine the winner(s) of theGrand Prize.

Category judging takes about 4 to 5 hours to complete. Category judges areexpected to check in at 7:15AM so that judging can begin at 8:00AM following abrief organizational meeting.

Special Awards Judging

The purpose of Special Award judging is to select student entries that willbe awarded special awards which are donated by sponsors of the fair. In additionto providing the award itself, these sponsors also typically send one or moreemployees or members to review the student entries and select the students towhom they will award their prize.

Special award judging can be performed at any time during the period 9:00AMto 12:00PM.

Registration for Special award judges is handled by the SpecialAwards committee.  

Please contact either Carie Lopatka or Judy Legault  for more information.