Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS): Complete Guide

TL;DR

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) is a research competition where high school students present original work to judges and compete for scholarship money. This page covers the eight categories, how regionals feed nationals, the full award table, how judging works, and how JSHS compares to ISEF. The national oral competition alone awards $192,000. Regional deadlines vary, so find yours now. No finished project yet, or no mentor? Apply to Horizon and start building the research.

What is the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium?

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, or JSHS, is a research competition for students in grades 9 to 12. A symposium is a meeting where people present and discuss their work. The Department of War backs JSHS, the National Science Teaching Association runs it, and students present original research in science, technology, engineering or math. Despite the name, all eight categories are STEM fields.

The format is different from a typical contest. You don’t submit a paper and wait for a result. You write up your research, then present it to judges and answer their questions in person. Some students give a short talk with slides, called an oral presentation. Others stand beside a printed poster. Either way, someone will ask how you did the work, so you need to know it cold.

Most students never hear about JSHS, so it’s easy to miss and well worth finding. It sits alongside the options in Research Competitions for High School Students.

Who can enter and what counts as research?

Your school’s address decides your region, and you can compete in only one. The 2026 to 2027 rules also set a few ground rules worth knowing before you plan anything:

• You’re in grades 9 to 12 and a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, as required to participate.
• Your research was done within the calendar year before your regional event.
• You present one project per year. A continuation project is allowed if it includes significant new research.
• A class project, science fair project, or summer research project can qualify.
• You don’t need a teacher, mentor, or school sponsor to register.

Qualifying work is original research with a clear question, a method, results, and a conclusion. Demonstrations, library research, literature reviews, and informational projects are not appropriate for JSHS. Not sure what your project counts as? Case Study vs. Experiment vs. Survey  walks through the options. If you plan to survey people or work with animals, the rules require supervision and approved review first.

What are the eight JSHS categories?

JSHS sorts every project into one of eight categories. Here’s what belongs in each:

• Biomedical Sciences: microbiology, cell and molecular biology, genetics, immunology and pharmacology.
• Chemistry: organic and physical chemistry, materials, chemical engineering and earth science.
• Engineering and Technology: aerospace, electrical and mechanical engineering, robotics and solar energy.
• Environmental Science: ecosystems, pollution, toxicity and land resource management.
• Life and Behavioral Sciences: developmental biology, plant physiology, population genetics and behavioral science.
• Math and Computer Science: statistics, algorithms, networking and artificial intelligence.
• Medicine and Health: disease diagnosis and treatment, epidemiology, neuroscience and physiology.
• Physical Sciences: astronomy, physics, optics, acoustics and quantum science.

Many projects fit two categories. Pick the category whose judges you would most want questioning your work. Your choice isn’t final: the rules say organizers assign categories after reviewing abstracts and may move you to match judges’ expertise. Make your main field obvious in the first lines of your abstract.

The site notes that categories are subject to change, so check Rules and Categories before you register. For more options beyond JSHS, see STEM Competitions for High School Students.

How does JSHS work, from regionals to nationals?

Here’s the path, in order:

1. Find your region. The Find Your Region directory lists each regional symposium and its deadline.
2. Register through your region’s link. You’ll submit a 250-word abstract and, depending on the region, a research paper of 5 to 20 pages, plus a signed Statement of Outside Assistance.
3. Wait for the first review. A panel reads the submissions and picks who will present.
4. Present at your regional symposium, as an oral talk or a poster, whichever your region assigns.
5. Place in the top five. Those finalists are invited to the National Symposium with expenses paid.
6. Go to nationals. The 64th National Symposium is April 20 to 25, 2027, in Chantilly, Virginia.

Registration generally opens between October and January, and regional events run from January to February. The top-five rule sets the realistic target: finish in your region’s top five and you earn the national trip. At nationals, the top two regional finalists compete in the oral session, and the rest compete in the poster session. Regions run their own events and can pause them, so confirm that yours is open this year.

What can you actually win at JSHS?

JSHS is unusually generous for a high school competition. At the national level, the top three oral finalists in each of the eight categories receive $ 192,000 in tuition scholarships, for 24 winners. Poster finalists compete for cash awards.

Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, Awards, re-checked October 16, 2026.

• Scholarship funds go to your college, never to you.
• Regional awards are paid in full in your first year of enrolment. National scholarships are spread over four years.
• Total JSHS awards are capped at $30,000 per individual student winner.

Regional host organizations may add their own awards, and those vary by region. Scholarships also come with conditions: you must be a citizen or lawful permanent resident, enrolled full-time, and for multi-year payments, you need a 3.0 GPA and a STEM major. Read the full Awards page before you count on the money.

Oral or poster: which should you enter?

Here’s a detail most guides skip: the rules say your region decides whether you present orally or as a poster, so you may not get to choose. Still, knowing the difference helps you prepare for either.

An oral presentation is a talk of up to 12 minutes, followed by up to 6 minutes of questions from the judges. You use slides only, with no props or handouts. A poster presentation is a short pitch (about 3 to 5 minutes) at a printed board (36 inches high by 48 inches wide), with no laptops and no QR codes.

• Oral suits you if you think on your feet, like telling a story, and can explain results without notes.
• Poster suits you if you do your best work in conversation, one judge at a time, and like showing data visually.

The award gap is large: national oral winners earn up to $12,000, while national poster winners earn up to $550. That gap rewards placing high, not picking a format, since at nationals the top two regional finalists go to the oral session.

JSHS vs ISEF: how do they compare?

Both reward strong student research, but they work differently. Here’s the side-by-side:

Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and Society for Science, re-checked October 16, 2026.

Be even-handed about this. ISEF is larger and far better known, and a finalist spot carries real name recognition. JSHS is smaller and less familiar, but each region gets its own podium and its own scholarships, so you compete against students in your region first, not the whole country. The formats also differ: ISEF focuses on displays and interviews, while JSHS requires a written paper and a presentation.

A single solid project can often go to both. JSHS accepts science fair projects, and ISEF qualifies through fairs. If you’re extending last year’s work, check the continuation rules for each competition. JSHS requires significant new research and a clear account of how the project grew, and ISEF has its own rules. For the ISEF path, read ISEF: How to Qualify, What Judges Look For.

How are JSHS projects judged?

Regional and national judges score presentations with detailed rubrics that are posted on jshs.org. The rules list the criteria, and they come down to a few things judges reward:

• A clear statement of the research problem.
• Scientific thought and creativity, with a research or engineering design you can defend.
• Procedures that someone else could follow.
• A logical conclusion that says what you learned and how it adds to the field.
• Skillfully communicate results, and include references.

Students often struggle with the hardest questions about their own role and reasoning. Judges read your Statement of Outside Assistance, and they can ask what part you played, why you chose a method, and what role AI tools had. Saying “I don’t know, here’s how I’d find out” beats bluffing every time. In oral sessions, only the judges ask questions, and you repeat each question before answering.

How to prepare, working back from your regional date

Find your region and its deadline first, then count backward. Here are rough durations for each stage:

• Find your region and deadline: one day.
• Finish the research, data, and analysis: four to eight weeks, longer if you’re still collecting data.
• Write the abstract and paper: two to three weeks. The paper runs 5 to 20 pages in APA style.
• Complete the Statement of Outside Assistance and get it signed: one week.
• Build your slides or poster: one to two weeks.
• Rehearse with a non-expert audience: one to two weeks, including practice questions.

For help with the writing stage, see The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Research Paper in 90 Days. JSHS needs original research with a written method and a defensible result, and most students don’t have one ready by their regional deadline.

Horizon pairs you with a professor or PhD-level scholar, in a small group or one-to-one, and gives you writing coaching and publication guidance as you build a 20- to 25-page research paper over 10 to 16 weeks. It doesn’t guarantee a placement, set your region’s deadline, or offer college credit. Apply to Horizon if you want to build a project that meets the rules.

Does JSHS help with college applications?

Honestly, a placement helps because it is a verifiable external result, which is worth more than a self-reported project. But the research itself is what you’ll be asked about, in interviews and in essays. A strong placement with a project you can’t explain won’t carry you far. For the wider picture, read Do Summer Research Programs Actually Help with College Admissions?.

Frequently asked questions

Start with the research

No finished project yet? Your region sets the deadline, so the useful move is to work backward from it and start the research now. Apply to Horizon to build original work you can present, or join a Horizon info session to see how it works.

Resources

External sources

• Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, JSHS
• Rules and Categories, JSHS
• Awards, JSHS
• Find Your Region, JSHS
• Rules for All Projects, Society for Science (ISEF)

More from Horizon

• Research Competitions for High School Students
• STEM Competitions for High School Students
• ISEF: How to Qualify, What Judges Look For
• The Ultimate Guide to Writing a Research Paper in 90 Days
• Do Summer Research Programs Actually Help with College Admissions?

Image source: Horizon Academic Research Program