Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Are boys allowed to participate in the Science Challenge?

A: The Science Challenge is only accepting girls and gender-diverse students as entrants in the Major Challenge. This means that boys can still register for the Science Challenge and participate in Minor Challenges, however they cannot enter the Major Challenge.

Q: When do registrations close?

A: Registration remains open while the competition is ongoing. You can register any time until the competition closes on 04 October 2023.

Q: I registered for the competition but haven’t received links to the Minor Challenges. What can I do?

A: Our email updates for the competition may be in your spam folder, or ‘Promotions’ if you’re using Gmail. If you still haven’t received a welcome email with links to the Minor Challenges from us, please email [email protected]. 

Minor Challenge

Q: Do I need to do two Minor Challenges of the currently released set to qualify for the Major Challenge?

A: Each set of the Minor Challenges is released every three weeks. You can do any 2 Minor Challenge (or more) from any set and submit by 18 October 2023.

Q: I signed up late, can I still submit a Minor Challenge from the previous sets?

A: You can submit any Minor Challenge regardless of which stage the competition is currently in. You can submit a Minor Challenge even if it’s not from the latest set, as well as after Major Challenge submission has opened.

Q: What format should my Minor Challenge submission be?

A: We are happy to accept most written, picture and video formats, which includes reports, photos and slideshow presentations. If submitting a video, please provide the link to your video on cloud storage or a video-sharing platform (e.g. YouTube), rather than submitting the video file itself. 

Q: If my child is turning ___ years old on ____ do I register her as intermediate/senior?

A: As a general rule, we will use the start of the Major Challenge submissions (5 June 2023) as a cut-off date. If your student turns 9 before this date they should be entered at an Intermediate level or if your student turns 13 before this date they should be entered at a Senior level.

Q: What is the time commitment for the MINOR CHALLENGE?

A: Our Minor Challenge projects should take approximately an afternoon to finish, however, some projects/experiments may include observation and data collection over a longer period of time. In each Minor Challenge document, we have also included a short note on the estimated time commitment for the project.

Q: What is the time commitment for the MAJOR CHALLENGE?

A: The Major Challenge requires participants to create their own research task and produce a 4-minute video to show their findings. Therefore, it may require a few hours a week, spread over a few weeks to complete the project.

Q: What time does the Minor Challenge / Major Challenge submission close?

A: Submissions for the Minor Challenge will close at 11:59 PM local time on 18 October 2023. Submissions for the Major Challenge will close at 11:59 PM local time on 04 October 2023.