STEM | News
Google Brings Global Science Fair Online
Google revealed Tuesday that it's launching the Google Science Fair, which the company described as the "first global online science competition." Google partnered with a number of organizations to launch the competition, including CERN, the Lego Group, National Geographic, and Scientific American.
Students aged 13 to 18 are eligible to participate in the inaugural Google Science Fair singly or in groups of two or three. Registration is opening today and will be open through April 4.
Judging criteria will focus on quality of the data, the writeup, and the significance of the concept for the project, as well as the quality of the video or presentation that the students must produce for the project. There is no specific theme for the debut event, but the rules for the competition state that the question should be "interesting, creative, worded scientifically and relevant to the world today." A sample project can be found here.
The initial round of judging in May will result in 60 semifinalists. Fifteen finalists will be chosen from this pool to participate in a live, in-person event to be held at Google headquarters in July. Those finalists will be selected from three age groups--13 to 14, 15 to 16, and 17 to 18--with five finalists chosen from each group.
Prizes will be awarded to the 15 finalists, along with a grand prize winner and a people's choice winner. They include a $50,000 scholarship for the grand prize winner (split evenly among team members should a team win), $25,000 for each finalist or finalist team, and $10,000 for the people's choice winner. Prizes for the students' schools and families will also be awarded.
Google is hosting an online launch event for the science fair at noon Eastern/9 a.m. Pacific. Further information about the launch event and other details about the Google Science Fair can be found here.