25 Science Competitions for High School Students in 2023
High-achieving high school students in STEM often want to push themselves to conduct experiments, practice scientific communication, and compete in events that evaluate their work. Extracurricular science competitions can be a way for high schoolers to demonstrate exceptional merit and earn prestigious awards in STEM fields on top of their academic success at their schools.
Read on to learn about the advantages of participating in science competitions as a high schooler and for a list of 25 nationally recognized science contests open to high school entry in 2023.
Benefits of Science Competitions for High School Students
Through their preparation for a science competition, high schoolers gain an intimate knowledge of the scientific research process, from hypothesis generation and data analysis to paper writing and poster presentation. These skills are immensely valuable not only in STEM competitions but also in general scholarly pursuits.
Science competitions demand a certain work ethic and rigor of participating students and are thus additionally instructive in goal setting and project planning. Not to mention a track record of participation in science contests indicates on college applications that a student is disciplined, dedicated, and passionate.
Accomplished high school researchers may also be recognized for their achievements, though they will benefit greatly from their hard work in science competitions regardless of these accolades. By being an active participant in high-level science programs as a high schooler, students will interface with leading researchers around the world and gain experience about career opportunities in STEM. Below are 25 of the top science competitions––national and international––available in 2023.
Science Competitions for High School Students in 2023
1. Davidson Fellows
The Davidson Institute offers $50,000, $25,000, and $10,000 scholarships every year to high-achieving students, 18 years old or younger. To apply, students a project they have completed in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, literature, music, or philosophy, along with completed evaluations by their nominators.
2. National Science Bowl
In 1991, the U.S. Department of Energy created the National Science Bowl to encourage students in math and science to pursue careers in STEM. Since then, the event has become one of the nation’s largest science competitions, pitting high school student teams against one another to answer fast-paced questions in a range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, physics, energy, and math.
3. Odyssey of the Mind
To compete in the Odyssey competition, students work with a member school or community group to form a team, review the long-term problem posed, and create a solution. Within the guidelines, teams are encouraged to use colorful costumes, innovative design, and humorous skits to present their solutions.
4. Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
Competing at the Regeneron ISEF starts at a science fair affiliated with the Society for Science. These competitions exist in nearly every U.S. state and each affiliated fair has a designated number of projects that they may support to participate in ISEF. At ISEF, students compete for nearly $8 million in awards, including a $75,000 top prize.
5. Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS)
Another contest run by the Society for Science, Regeneron STS invites high school seniors who have complete independent research projects to apply online for the for the chance to win up to $250,000. STS prides itself on being the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and mathematics competition since its founding in 1942.
6. MIT THINK Scholars Program
THINK at MIT is a science, research, and innovation program for high school students, offering $1,000 in funding to contest finalists as well as all-expenses paid trip to MIT’s campus. Rather than requiring students to submit a completed research project, the Think Scholars program caters to students who have done extensive research on the background of a potential research project and are seeking additional guidance.
7. Exploravision
Emphasizing imagination and a vision of future technology, ExploraVision invites students to apply in groups of 2-4 with a team coach and an optional mentor. Each team selects a technology, or aspect of a technology, and explores how the technology works before projecting what it could be like 10 years into the future and what scientific breakthroughs would need to occur to make it a reality.
8. Envirothon
Teams in the Envirothon consist of five students from the same school, who will work together to prepare oral presentations on conservation issues in aquatic ecology, forestry, soil and land use, wildlife, and a year-specific issue. Students conduct research by doing field work, becoming experts in their areas of study, and then creating inventive solutions to complex local and global environmental issues.
9. Stockholm Junior Water Prize
The SJWP is the world’s most prestigious award for a high school water research project. The prize is partnered with the Water Environment Federation and sends the winner to the Regeneron ISEF.
10. Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
In 2023, JSHS is hosting its 61st National Symposium in Virginia Beach. 245 high school students qualify by submitting and presenting original scientific research papers in regional symposiums held at universities nationwide. All students participate in interactive activities to engage with Department of Defense researchers, laboratories, and related STEM organizations and professionals.
11. Destination Imagination Challenge Experience
Destination Imagination challenges take on two distinct formats: team challenges and instant challenges. Team challenges are available each year in 7 categories: technical, scientific, fine arts, improvisational, engineering, service learning and early learning. Instant challenges are quick creative and critical-thinking exercises that are given in-person at the tournament. For more information on each format, visit the link above.
12. Aerial Drone Competition
Participants in the Aerial Drone Competition will learn about drones, flight principles, programming, documentation, and communication skills. Teams pilot their drones on a 24’x24’ square field, competing to score goals and land their drones of a designated landing pad. Check out the video on their website to see the drones in action.
13. National Science Olympiad
The National Science Olympiad provides standards-based challenges to 5,500 teams at 400 tournaments in all 50 U.S. states. Students can become members through their state chapter to compete either in person or remotely.
14. American Computer Science League (ACSL)
Each season of the ACSL is divided into four contests, testing students on computer science concepts ranging from Number Systems to Boolean Algebra to Digital Electronics. In the upper divisions, contests also include programming problems in Python, C++ or Java.
15. American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME)
Students qualify for the AIME by excelling on the AMC 10 or AMC 12. The AIME is a 15-question, 3-hour exam on which each answer is an integer between 0 and 999. Top scoring participants on the AIME are invited to take the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO).
16. Canadian Computing Competition (CCC)
Designed to be both accessible to students with less programming experience and challenging to high-achieving high school coders, the CCC helps students build up their ability to design, understand and implement algorithms. Depending on their previous experience, high schoolers can choose to participate in either the junior or senior level, solving five questions online in a 3-hour testing period. High-scoring individuals are given commendation in the CCC official results.
17. ARCGIS Online Competition
This competition challenges U.S. high school students to conduct and share a research project about a topic relevant to their home state. Competitors will gather, organize, analyze, and interpret their data to create a StoryMap about their project. See the competition website for examples.
18. FPSPI Creating the Future Scholarship
FPSPI is an international competitive program in which high school students are tasked with apply a problem-solving process to local and global issues and to visions of the future. The scholarship recognizes FPS students who are graduating from high school. Applicants generally have many years of participation with FPSPI.
19. International Biology Olympiad (IBO)
The world’s largest high school biology competition takes place every year in a different location. The contest occurs in July and is open to students who placed top four in their National Biology Olympiad. During IBO, students participate in Theoretical and Practical Exams and showcase their investigative and analytical skills in the lab.
20. National Robotics Challenge
At the NRC, students are tested in particular areas of manufacturing, technology, robotics, and automation. Robots may only be entered into one contest category per year. The contest offers gold, silver, and bronze level awards, as well as the Honda Innovation Award to the winning team.
21. Solar Car Challenge
Named one of Technology & Learning’s top 10 most innovative education programs, the Solar Car Challenge hosts a yearly solar car race, with the 2023 event spanning from Fort Worth, TX to Palmdale, CA. As part of the two-week event, teams will participate in scrutineering sessions at the Texas Motor Speedway before commencing the race.
22. The Tech Challenge
As the signature program of the Tech Interactive, the Tech Challenge invites teams to use the engineering design process to solve a real-world problem, culminating in a two-day April showcase. The challenge for 2023 is to “build a structure to protect vulnerable objects from extreme winds.”
23. North American Computational Linguistics Open Competition (NACLO)
The premier high school linguistics program, NACLO tests students on their ability to solve linguistic problems. In the process, high schoolers learn about the diversity and consistency of language, as well as interdisciplinary topics such as computational linguistics and language technologies.
24. Virginia Tech High School Programming Contest
An online coding competition now in its ninth year, the VT programming contest administers tests in Java, Python, C, C++, Go, Scala, Racket, Ruby, and Haskell. The test is composed of 8-12 problems of varying difficulty. Students register for the test on the day of the contest, which is upcoming on December 10, 2022.
25. GENES IN Space
Genes in Space is a unique competition in which students compete to design DNA experiments that address a challenge in space exploration. Examples of space challenges include alien life, cosmic radiation, human survivability during space travel, and space microbiomes.
Looking to build up to one of the above science competitions? Check out our blog post on how to conduct research as a high schooler! You might also consider learning about the research process and how to apply artificial intelligence to your projects in one of Inspirit AI’s leading programs taught by Stanford and MIT researchers.
