National STEM Festival U.S.: Future Rising Starts with a Working Idea

National STEM Festival U.S.: Future Rising Starts with a Working Idea

This guide was checked on 7 October 2026.

Editorial overview

The complete rules now published for the 2027 U.S. edition replace uncertainty with a demanding but readable application path. Entry is free, but participation is restricted by grade, age and usual residence; students also have to submit a finished individual project package in one sitting rather than return to a saved draft.

The scoring makes the organiser's priorities unusually visible. Half of the first-stage score comes from Positive Impact, while originality and clarity divide the remaining points; the later video contributes one quarter of the overall result. That balance rewards a project whose value can be demonstrated through evidence and explained plainly, not merely a polished-looking prototype.

Quick Facts

Review Evaluation

Rated Advanced. Entrants must develop an original individual STEM project and present it through written responses, an anonymous PDF and a downloadable video; advancement depends on impact, originality and clear communication across two review phases.

For current dates, eligibility and registration details, see the National STEM Festival U.S. Edition competition page.

The details below are newly confirmed for the 2027 season. The prior review predated publication of the complete rules, so this guide treats them as newly available facts rather than claiming a year-to-year rule change.

Start with the residence and age tests

Applicants must be enrolled in Grades 7–12 when they apply and be at least 13 by 11 April 2027. They must also have usual residence in one of the 56 U.S. Competition Regions. That territory test is based on the student's usual home address, not the location of a school.

Eligible settings include public, private, charter, magnet, CTE, homeschool and DoDEA education, and U.S. citizenship is not required. The residence rule means this is not an international open-entry competition: an ordinary resident of the United Kingdom or Ireland is not eligible merely through nationality or school affiliation.

Entry is Free, with no purchase or payment required. This removes an application-fee barrier, but families should still check the Champion travel obligations before treating selection as a purely online commitment.

Prepare one complete application package

The festival accepts Individual projects only; teams are not permitted, and the limit is One submission per student. A team idea therefore needs to be re-scoped around one student's own project and evidence before the application begins.

The application must be completed in one session and cannot be saved for later. Applicants should draft every written response, check filenames and permissions, and test all links before opening the form. After submission, the rules do not allow substantive revisions.

The evidence package has three layers: written responses, an anonymous Project PDF of no more than 3 pages and 5 MB, and a downloadable Project Video of no more than 2 minutes. The PDF must omit identifying details for blind review. The video must be available for the organiser to download, so a view-only link that blocks downloading can make an otherwise complete entry unusable.

A useful PDF should make the evidence trail easy to follow. Start with the problem in a specific setting, show what the student actually built or investigated, and distinguish observations from assumptions. Photos, diagrams and concise data can do more work than decorative layouts, especially when every page has a clear purpose. Because the document is anonymous, students should inspect image captions, headers, filenames and embedded screenshots for names, school branding or other identifiers before export.

The video has a different job from the PDF. It should let the project speak through a demonstration, a carefully chosen result or a short explanation of why a design decision matters. Repeating the written application word for word wastes the medium. A simple storyboard can help: establish the problem, show the project operating, explain one meaningful piece of evidence and close with what the student learned. Test the exported file or hosted link from a signed-out browser and confirm that downloading is enabled.

Understand the two-stage selection

Phase 1 review runs from 12 April to 11 May 2027. The anonymous project review uses the following 100-point structure:

Positive Impact carries 50 points, Innovation, Creativity and Originality carry 25 points, and Clarity carries 25 points in Phase 1. Eligible Title I students receive a 5-point administrative bonus only when Finalists are selected. The Title I adjustment is not carried into the Champion score, so it should be understood as part of Finalist selection rather than as extra project merit points.

The weighting suggests a practical editing order. First, make the claimed impact testable: identify who or what benefits, explain the scale of the problem and connect each result to evidence. Next, show why the approach is genuinely the student's own rather than a generic classroom build. Only then tighten the language and visual structure. Clarity matters, but it cannot compensate for an impact claim that is broad, unsupported or disconnected from the project itself.

Up to 8 Finalists may be selected from each Competition Region. Finalists are announced on 12 May 2027, and Phase 2 review runs from 13 May to 11 June 2027. Phase 2 adds the project video: The final score is 75% Phase 1 project score and 25% Phase 2 video score. A 65-point minimum final score is required for Champion eligibility.

The rules allow up to 56 Regional Champions and 8 Special Award Champions, creating a maximum of up to 64 Champions. Champion announcements are scheduled for 22 June 2027.

Plan for the Champion commitment

Champions must attend the Washington, DC Festival in person from 19–24 October 2027. The official package is a Champion travel and festival package valued at up to approximately 2,500 US dollars. It covers the specified festival travel, hotel, programming, meals and activities within the rules' limits.

A Champion who is under 18 must attend with a parent or legal guardian. The package includes the specified reasonable transport and accommodation for that accompanying adult, but families should still read the exact booking and reimbursement conditions before making independent arrangements.

Official timeline

The cut-off is stated in Eastern Time. Applicants outside that time zone should convert it ahead of time and aim to submit early enough to resolve upload or permission problems.

Key Takeaways

• Check grade, age and usual-residence eligibility before investing time in the form.
• Treat the entry as one student's project; teams and multiple submissions are not accepted.
• Prepare the written responses, anonymous PDF and downloadable video before starting the one-session application.
• Design the evidence around positive impact, originality and clarity, then use the video to strengthen the second-stage explanation.
• If selected as a Champion, plan for mandatory in-person attendance in Washington with a parent or legal guardian when required.

Sources checked

• https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/rules-guidelines-us
• https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/application-guide-us
• https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/faq-festival-us
• https://www.nationalstemfestival.com/attend