JSHS Round by Round: The Paper, the Regional Symposium, and Nationals

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is the research competition most families overlook and most winners prepare wrong. It is free, it is sponsored by the Department of Defense through the Army, Navy and Air Force, it pays real scholarships, and it does not look like a science fair at all. There is no board. There is a paper, then a talk, then, for a few, a trip to the national symposium.

Each round scores something different. Here is what happens at each, who judges it, and what gets you through.

Who can enter

Grades 9 through 12, U.S. citizens or permanent residents (students abroad with either can enter through the Virtual Region), with original research completed within the year before the regional symposium. Literature reviews and proposals do not qualify. Team projects are allowed in some regions but only one student presents.

You enter through your regional symposium, assigned by the state your school is in. Find your region here.

Round 1: the paper

What you submit. A written research paper, submitted online to your region by its deadline. Some regions ask for an abstract first and the full paper later (Texas, for example, takes abstracts in November and papers in January). Follow your region's page exactly on length, font and file naming; several regions use their own template.

Who reads it. Scientists. Regional papers are reviewed by faculty and researchers at the host university, usually in the relevant field. This is the one round of JSHS where your reader is likely to be an expert, and it is the round where most entrants are cut.

What is scored. Three things, in roughly this order:

1. Originality. Is this a question the student asked, or a replication of a known result?
2. Scientific rigor. Is there a stated hypothesis, an appropriate method, correctly handled data, and a conclusion the data actually support?
3. Clarity. Can a scientist in an adjacent field follow it on one read?

What advances. The top papers in each region are invited to present orally at the symposium, typically 10 to 20 students depending on the region's size. A further group is often invited to present posters. Everyone else is finished for the year.

What wins here. The paper that reads like a paper. An explicit hypothesis in the introduction, methods a reader could repeat, results with uncertainty (confidence intervals, standard errors, error bars), a limitations paragraph that names the real weaknesses, and a reference list of sources the student actually used. Reviewers notice padding, missing statistics, and claims the data do not support, and they cut for all three.

If you have never written a research paper, start with how to write your first research paper and how to write a research abstract.

Round 2: the regional symposium

What it is. A one- or two-day event at a university, usually in February or early March. Oral presenters give a 12-minute talk followed by about six minutes of judge questions, in front of the judging panel and an audience of other students. Poster presenters stand with a poster and are interviewed.

Who judges. A panel, typically three to five judges, drawn from the host university, local industry and the military research community. Unlike round one, this panel is mixed: a chemist, an engineer, an Army research officer. Most of them are not experts in your specific field, and the talk has to work for all of them.

What is scored. JSHS publishes its oral presentation criteria: the research question and its significance, the design and methods, the results and analysis, the interpretation and conclusions, the quality of the presentation itself, and the student's handling of questions. In practice, the first and fifth decide most rankings. A panel that understood why the work matters and followed the story scores every other line higher.

What advances. The top five oral presenters in each region go to the National JSHS. First and second place typically receive $2,000 and $1,500 scholarships at the regional; third receives $1,000. Amounts vary slightly by region.

What wins here. This round flips from science to communication. The students who win are the ones who can make a non-expert care in the first minute and then defend the work when questions start. Concretely:

• Open with the problem and a person, not your title and your method. Thirty seconds on why anyone should care.
• One idea per slide, big figures, almost no text. Twelve minutes holds one narrative: problem, approach, key result, meaning. Cut until it breathes.
• Translate every result into human terms. "Three more patients out of 25 caught early," not "a 12% improvement in sensitivity."
• Rehearse to the second. Running over is the most common unforced error, and judges hold it against you.
• Prepare for the six minutes. Questions follow the same pattern as ISEF interviews: what is the biggest weakness, why this method, what would you do differently, what is the next experiment. See the four questions that decide the ISEF interview; they are the same questions.

Round 3: the National JSHS

What it is. A four-day symposium in late April or early May, expenses paid, bringing together the top five from every region, roughly 250 students. Finalists present in category sessions judged by panels of scientists, many from DoD laboratories.

How it works. The top two oral presenters from each region present orally at nationals; the remaining three present posters. Oral finalists in each category compete for first, second and third; poster finalists compete separately.

What is awarded. National oral winners receive $12,000, $8,000 and $4,000 scholarships; poster winners receive smaller awards. Total scholarships across the program exceed $400,000 per year.

What wins here. The same talk, delivered to a sharper panel, by a student who has now given it a dozen times. The ones who place at nationals are the ones whose round-two talk was already built for a non-expert audience and whose Q&A has been drilled against every weakness in the paper.

2027 regional deadlines

Deadlines vary by region and some have already passed by the time most families discover JSHS. Dates below are the paper or abstract deadline as published for the 2027 cycle; confirm on your region's page because several shift year to year.

Regions not listed had not published 2027 dates when this was written.

JSHS versus the science fair

Same project, different sport. A fair scores a board and a one-on-one conversation; JSHS scores a paper and a talk to a room. Students who bring the fair board to JSHS and read it aloud lose to weaker projects with better talks. Students who write the paper properly and then build a real talk tend to do well at both, because the fair interview and the JSHS Q&A ask the same questions. How science fair judging works, round by round covers the fair ladder in the same detail.

Where YRI fits

A JSHS entry is a finished research paper plus a rehearsed talk. That is exactly what YRI fellows produce: a mentored, original project written up to publication standard, then coached for the room. If you already have a paper, we will tell you honestly whether it is ready and what to fix for your region's reviewers. If you do not, the right time to start for next year's cycle is now.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is JSHS free to enter? Yes. There is no registration fee for regional symposia, and national finalists travel at the program's expense.

How many students advance from each JSHS region? The top five oral presenters go to nationals: the top two present orally there, the other three present posters.

Does JSHS require a poster or board? Oral presenters use slides, not a board. Students invited to the poster session bring a poster. Nobody brings a trifold.

What is the JSHS paper format? It varies by region. Most want a full paper with abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and references; some cap length or require a template. Check your region's page and follow it exactly.

Can I submit the same research to JSHS and ISEF? Yes. They are separate competitions with separate rules. Many students do both in the same season.

What are the JSHS scholarship amounts? Regional: typically $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000. National oral: $12,000, $8,000 and $4,000.

Related guides

• How to win JSHS: the oral competition most students prepare wrong
• Your science fair judge is not an expert in your field
• How science fair judging works, round by round
• How to write your first research paper
• How to win the ISEF interview

Sources

• Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
• JSHS: Find your region
• JSHS: Competition rules