Students must participate in a number of stages prior to advancing to the national symposium. The initial step is research. Students in grades 9-12 that are enrolled in public, private, or home schools and that reside in one of the designated JSHS regions are eligible. They must conduct an original research investigation in one of six science, engineering, and mathematics categories for presentation. Experimental, field, observational, and applied research are eligible, whereas sole review and library research are not appropriate.

The next stage involves approval for participation at the regional level. Students and their supporter(s) must contact the director of the symposium in their region to obtain application materials. In the initial application process, students are encouraged to submit a draft of their research paper and/or abstract and specify those resources which would be necessary in oral delivery of the research (PowerPoint projector, overhead, etc.).

Southeastern Michigan regional JSHS symposium. (Photo by Nirmish Singla)

Once students get the approval for regional participation, they prepare an oral presentation in which they report their innovative contributions to the research problem, and their approaches in undertaking a scientific investigation. Following the presentation, students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding of the principles underlying the research problem by answering questions posed by the judges and audience. Students are randomly assigned to different JSHS sections at the regional level. One student from each of these five sections is selected to advance to the regional finalist stage, during which they present their findings to a new panel of judges. The five finalists are automatically delegates to the national symposium and have their abstracts published in The National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium Abstracts of the Research Finalists. The top three finalists earn monetary prizes, and the top two finalists are eligible to compete at the national level.

The process at the national symposium is similar to that at the regional. The top two finalists from each region present their research before a panel of judges in six separate categories. Three winners are selected from each category to receive monetary prizes (18 awardees in all). Of these, the six first-place finishers are invited to attend the London International Youth Science Forum, which brings together over 400 participants from 60 nations for formal scientific discussion.