NSEC 2009-10 Rules and Eligibility Criteria

1. Entry to the competition is free and open to UK residents only.
2. Competitors can only enter the 2010 National Science & Engineering Competition once, either as an individual or as part of a team.
3. Only students aged 11-18 inclusive on 1 June 2009 are eligible to enter.
4. Entrants must be in mainstream secondary education (i.e. secondary school, sixth form college, FE college) on 1 June 2009. This includes home-schooled students.
5. Entry projects must have been carried out/completed between 1 July 2008 and 30 October 2009.
6. Entry projects must not have previously been entered into the National Science Competition unless significant progress has been made on the project.
7. Projects can be completed by teams of any size but no more than four team members can attend The Big Bang to represent their team.
8. Individuals can only enter projects they carried out without team support.
9. Team projects must be represented by at least two members of the team if they gain a place in the finals at The Big Bang.
10. All team members must be eligible to enter the Competition (i.e. aged 11-18 on 1 June 2009 and UK residents) even if all members are not able to attend the finals at The Big Bang.
11. If a team gains a place at the finals of The Big Bang and not all team members are able to attend, then those that do attend must represent the whole team but explicitly tell the judges which area of the projects they themselves focused on.
12. If not all team members are able to attend The Big Bang for any reason, then it is up to the school or college to liaise with the team members and decide whether any cash or experience prizes are shared between the entire team or just those that represented the team at The Big Bang.
13. Judging and prizes will be separated into three age categories according to the entrant's age on 1 June 2009:
    • Junior - Age 11-14 inclusive
    • Intermediate - Age 15-16 inclusive
    • Senior - Age 17-18 inclusive
14. Where teams have members spread across age categories, the entire team will be allocated to the category appropriate to the eldest member.
15. Entry is via the online entry form unless selected via the Big Bang Regional Fairs in June and July 2009.
16. Entry forms must be completed with all relevant information; incomplete entry forms will not be accepted.
17. Plagiarism is prohibited. The project entry must be the original work of the entrant(s).
18. By entering the competition you agree that your entry can appear on public display. The organisers of the National Science & Engineering Competition and The Big Bang may use the entry on the internet, on radio, on television and in print to promote the competition.
19. By entering, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by these rules.
20. It is the responsibility of the entrant to inform the National Science & Engineering Competition of any change to their contact details. Failure to do so may result in the entrant not receiving notification of results or similar correspondence.
21. Subject experts, appointed by the National Science & Engineering Competition, will judge the entries at each stage. Judging results are subject to the approval of the National Science & Engineering Competition organisers.
22. The judges' decisions are final and no appeals will be heard or correspondence, relating to result determination, entered into.
23. The National Science & Engineering Competition reserves the right to revise these rules and regulations at any time. Should it be necessary to do so, the National Science & Engineering Competition organisers will make every effort to communicate any changes to interested parties as quickly as possible.
24. There will be one individual and one team winner in each age category for the science/maths stream and for the engineering/technology stream. The two individual winners in the senior category will be given the titles the "UK Young Scientist of the Year" and the "UK Young Engineer of the Year".
25. Further runners-up and highly commended prizes will also be allocated within each age category and stream.
26. Other prizes will also be available but some of the experience prizes have age restrictions and other rules which must be adhered to and will only be awarded where these criteria have been met.
27. The winners will be announced at The Big Bang Awards Ceremony on 12 March 2010.
28. A full list of prize winners will be published on the National Science & Engineering Competition website and in any other publications selected by the organisers.