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. The guidelines below explain how to determine the appropriate pathway for each student.
Students may compete in only one GSEF-affiliated Regional Fair and must follow the pathway determined by the guidelines below. Attempts at “fair shopping” or bypassing eligibility requirements to gain an unfair advantage may result in disqualification or other eligibility actions.
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 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 REGIONAL 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 at the Regional Fair serving the county in which the school is geographically located. |
| Independent home or cyber school | Student may exhibit only at the Regional Fair serving the county 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.
Out-of-State Team Member
For team projects with an out-of-state team member, the project may be eligible for competition in a Regional Fair; contact the Regional Fair of the in-state team member(s) for clarification. The Team Leader must be in-state. If the project advances to GSEF, the project may be ineligible for certain awards.
Students may compete in only one ISEF-affiliated fair, except when advancing to a State Fair from an ISEF-affiliated Regional Fair in that state.