Pre-Collegiate Competitions

Georgia Science and Engineering Fair

Advancing from School and Regional Fairs

To be eligible for GSEF, students must first advance from a school-level fair to the appropriate Regional Fair, and then they must be selected by that Regional Fair to advance to the state level.

GSEF and its affiliated regional fairs aim to ensure all eligible middle and high school students in the state of Georgia have access to the Science and Engineering Fair System regardless of the type of school they attend.

Regional Fairs are supported, coordinated, and sustained by colleges/universities, school boards, RESAs, STEM organizations, and/or other stakeholders local to the geographic region served. They affiliate with the Georgia Science & Engineering Fair (GSEF) to become part of the science fair system and allow students to advance to the state-level fair.

SCHOOL-LEVEL FAIRS

Students must exhibit at a school fair before being considered for a Regional Fair. Each Regional Fair has additional eligibility requirements.

TYPE OF SCHOOL STUDENT ATTENDS

WHICH SCHOOL FAIR STUDENT SHOULD ATTEND
A “participating school” is a school that offers a science fair in accordance with requirements set by the Regional Fair.

Participating school

Students who attend schools that offer a science fair must exhibit at that school fair.

Non-participating school

Individual students who attend schools that do not offer a science fair should follow the instructions below for independent home or cyber school students.

Independent home or cyber school

Independent home/cyber school students must request to participate in the School Fair of the public school to which they would have been assigned according to their legal place of residence. The request should be made before October 1st. If that school does not offer a science fair, the student must contact the next closest school within the Region of the student’s legal place of residence, as measured by Google Maps shortest distance. If this second school also does not offer a science fair, contact the appropriate Regional Fair Director (see map) for further instructions. The decision of the Regional Fair Director is final. Attempts at “fair shopping” may result in disqualification.

Recognized home or cyber school group

A recognized home/cyber group of sufficient size* may elect to request that its own school-level fair (including a properly constituted SRC/IRB), be considered for affiliation with the Regional Fair of the Region in which it exists. The request should be made before October 1st. Affiliation decisions are at the discretion of the Regional Fair Director. If the Regional Fair agrees to affiliate the new fair, students of that home/cyber school group may advance to Regional only through that fair; no individual student from that group may try to advance to any Regional Fair by any other path — attempts to bypass this rule may result in disqualification of the individual and revocation of the group’s affiliation.

REGIONAL FAIRS

Students must exhibit at a school fair before being considered for a Regional Fair. Each Regional Fair has additional eligibility requirements.

TYPE OF SCHOOL STUDENT ATTENDS

WHICH SCHOOL FAIR STUDENT SHOULD ATTEND

Public, private, charter, or magnet school, or an affiliated home/cyber group

A student who attends any of these schools may exhibit only in the Regional Fair in which the school is located.

Independent home or cyber school

Student may exhibit only in the Regional Fair of the region in which the student’s legal place of residence is located.

Recognized home or cyber school group whose fair is officially affiliated with a Regional Fair

Student may exhibit only in the Regional Fair with which their group’s school fair is officially affiliated.

Team Projects: Per ISEF regulations, if a project involves a team, then the assigned Regional Fair of the designated Team Leader is the only Regional Fair in which the team may participate. A team member or leader who moves out of a region after a project is completed, or nearly completed, may exhibit at the Regional Fair with the team, provided they have not done a subsequent science project at the new school and entered the project into any level of science fair.

If a team member attends school out-of-state: 1) project may be eligible for competition in a Regional Fair; contact the Regional Fair of the in-state team member for clarification; 2) project may be eligible to compete at GSEF provided the Regional Fair has selected the team to advance, but may be ineligible for certain awards; and 3) team must designate a student who attends school in-state as the Team Leader.

Students may compete in only one ISEF-affiliated fair, except when advancing to a State Fair from a Regional Fair in that state.

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