Category judging takes place on Saturday afternoon, where each category is assigned a group of judges with a Category Captain. Judges are asked to arrive at the Judges’ Room at least 30 min prior to the start of judging. At that time, judges will get their project assignments from the Captain and instructions from the Judging Coordinators. Each judge will be assigned a maximum of 8 projects. Judges then proceed to the exhibit area and have 2 1/2 hours to judge their assigned projects. During this time, judges will meet with students at their project displays and evaluate their work. Each project is judged by a minimum of 3 judges, with only one judge interviewing a student at any given time (i.e. no judging in teams). At the end of the judging period, the judges reconvene in the Judges’ Room to discuss the projects and determine which projects will be awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Deliberations take 30 - 60 minutes, depending on the size of the category.
The category judging follows a common standard for all categories based on the TNJSF judging criteria. To the extent feasible, projects are not awarded based on the relative quality within a specific category. Instead, they are judged to an absolute standard to maintain consistency in category placement across all categories. 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 Sunday morning, where each special award is assigned a group of judges with a Captain. Judges are asked to arrive at the Judges’ Room at least 30 min prior to the start of judging. At that time, judges will get their project assignments from the Captain and instructions from the Judging Coordinators. Judges then proceed to the exhibit area and have 2 1/2 hours to judge their assigned projects. During this time, judges will meet with students at their project displays and evaluate their work. At least 2 judges on the award team should see each project under consideration. At the end of the judging period, the judges reconvene in the Judges’ Room to discuss the projects and determine which projects will be awarded. Deliberations take 30 - 60 minutes, depending on the number of projects being considered for the award(s).
The types of special awards range from specific science areas, like the Geoscience Award, to more general awards such as the Innovation Award. Hence, projects may be visited by a varying number of judges depending on their eligibility for the different awards. So judges are allowed to conduct interviews in groups of up to 3 judges.
On Saturday afternoon, Category captains lead their team in the category judging to determine project placement in the category.
On Sunday, all of the Category captains form a new judging team called the ISEF Panel. This judging team selects the winners of the ISEF Grand Prize - an all-expense paid trip to compete at the annual Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in mid-May.
On Sunday morning, the ISEF panel has 2 1/2 hours to judge all projects that placed first in their category. Captains judge in pairs, with one judge from the physical sciences and one from the biological sciences. At the end of the judging period, the ISEF Panel determines the finalists that will advance to the ISEF trip award judging. A maximum of twelve finalists are selected. A maximum of two team projects can advance to the ISEF trip award judging.
On Sunday afternoon, all finalists set up their posters for a final 1 1/2 hour judging session divided into four 20 minute blocks. After the finalist judging is complete, the ISEF Grand Prize winners are chosen, with at least one winner from the junior division. One team project can be awarded an ISEF Grand Prize, at the discretion of the ISEF Panel.
Thus, Captains judge on Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, and Sunday afternoon.