Information for Judges

There are two types of judges for the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair, each with the option to focus on any combination of elementary, middle school, and/or high school level projects:

1. Main Category Judges are the formal representatives the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair. As a main category judge, you can chose to focus on elementary, middle school, or high school level projects, or any combination of levels.

At the high school and middle school levels, Main Category Judges award the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair’s category prizes, such as chemistry, animal science, and computer engineering among others. These judges work in teams to interview the students and evaluate project content and student knowledge. Main Category judges for high school determine which student(s) will advance to the International Fair.

If you are a professional in a STEM related field, or college student majoring in a STEM field, and would like to judge in person at the high school, middle school or elementary level during the fair, please register on our digital science fair platform: https://ak.zfairs.com/.  Judges are strongly encouraged to register early to allow processing time.

Training will be provided via a zoom webinar at 7pm on the Wednesday and Thursday before the day of the fair. Links to the training webinar will be provided to all registered judges via email several weeks before the fair. View the judging rubrics here.

 2. Special Category Judges represent organizations or professional societies that choose to offer special prizes and are often sent by the sponsoring organization. However, some organizations are unable to send someone to judge for their award, and in those cases we need judges who are willing to sign up to judge projects according to the rubrics provided by the sponsoring organization. Examples include the IEEE Electrical Engineering award and the Alaska Professional Communicators Abstract and Display awards. Judging criteria and project level and category focus are established by the sponsoring organization. We welcome new special category judges and prizes! For information on how to sponsor a special award and register as Special Category Judge, please contact us directly at Director@alaskasciencefair.org.