How to enter:
1. Students complete a scientific investigation or design a technological innovation. Students keep a logbook during their project, and then write up their findings or invention as a report (our judging rubrics and past projects make a great guide!). Some inventions may also include a video to demonstrate a working model.
2. Schools/hubs select top projects to submit to the Young Scientist Awards. The primary contact for each school or group should register as a Hub Contact.
3. The submission form is completed and all files uploaded before the closing date by an adult who can verify that the project is eligible and original (eg a parent, carer, or classroom teacher).
More information:
STANSW Young Scientist is open to all students in NSW. Projects can be completed by individuals, or groups of up to 3.
Projects can be started any time after September in the year before the competition. Projects must be the student's own work with all assistance described and acknowledged (including any use of generative AI). Projects can be completed as in-class tasks, take-home tasks, or can be conducted by students outside of class.
Students should not appear or be named in any videos, and reports and logbooks should be de-identified (no student names, school names, teacher/mentor names) prior to submission to allow for anonymous judging.
Most entries are made by schools, though other groups (eg science clubs or individual families) are also welcome to submit projects. Schools should submit only their top entries in each category (limited to 10 per school unless by prior arrangement). All participating schools are expected to provide at least one volunteer judge.
The contact person for each school or group should register as a Hub Contact and will be given a HubID. This HubID links each entry to the relevant hub. Hub Contacts can see, but not edit, all entries associated with the HubID.
All projects are to be entered digitally using the online submission form on the project portal. Projects can be uploaded and submissions can be edited at any time until 11:59pm on the closing date. Late submissions will be considered by the STANSW executive on a case by case basis. It is encouraged to submit projects early so uploading and internet issues do not result in a student project missing the deadline.
Projects must be uploaded by an adult who can verify that the project meets the submission requirements (see rules). This is often a parent or class teacher, or may be the Hub Contact. The responsible adult should be provided with the HubID to link entries to the school/group. This adult must declare that they have the consent of the student AND their parents/caregiver to share the student’s work and other identifying information with STANSW.
File upload instructions:
- All files must be under 10MB
- Please format reports and logbooks as PDFs
- Ensure all files (and filenames) are de-identified
- Files should be named simply, avoiding special characters (eg soap_project_report.pdf, soap_project_logbook.pdf)
- Small video files (10MB or less) can also be uploaded. Students and identifying details should not appear in videos.
- If longer video files or software demonstrations are required, please upload to cloud storage and provide a link within the project report (note: these must also be de-identified) Please make sure the settings are set to publicly accessible or "anyone with the link can view”.
If you experience persistent difficulties with the uploading of the files, contact [email protected] and we will discuss alternative ways of sending the files.
Selecting a category
Entries should be entered into age categories based on the student’s grade (or the highest grade in a group of students).
Secondary students completing scientific investigations (including those completed as part of investigating science or extension science courses) should select the scientific discipline most relevant to the project (if the project relates to multiple disciplines, make the selection based on the methods used in the project). Projects may only be entered in to only one scientific discipline.
If a project involves both an invention AND an investigation, the same work may be entered into both STEM categories. However, it is recommended that seperate reports are produced to meet the relevant criteria for each category.
(Note: there is no longer a seperate mathematics category. All entries will be assessed for eligibility for a 'working mathematically' prize. It is now expected that most projects will only be entered into one category)
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