Poster competition

The British Science Week 2024 poster competition entries are now closed.

The 2025 competition will open soon in January 2025.

The theme for 2025 is ‘Change and adapt, – there are loads of STEM topics to be explored. Pupils could create a poster showing how plants and animals adapt to changing surroundings or how technology’s place in our lives has changed, and how we have adapted. They could look at climate change and how we can adapt our behaviours to protect the environment, or their favourite science experiment and how it shows change. The more creative the interpretation of the theme, the better!

The poster competition will work a little differently this year. The usual competition based on the theme will be open to early years and primary aged children, from 3 up to 11. Secondary students will have the opportunity to enter a special category – we’ll be announcing more about that soon – keep your eyes peeled!

Check out the winners of the 2024 competition.

How will the posters be judged?

We wish that everyone could be a winner, but we only have a limited number of prizes. So, here’s the lowdown on what the judges will be looking for:

• Creativity in approach – Innovative angle on the content or creative interpretation of the theme – don’t be afraid to think outside the box
• Content – Clear, accurate and informative about a STEM topic
• Effective communication – presented and communicated in an engaging way

Members of the British Science Association will shortlist entries, and a panel of judges will select a winner in each category. The two runners up in each category will be uploaded to our Facebook page and the public will decide on a fifth ‘popular vote’ winner.

What are the prizes?!

Prizes for the 2024 competition winners included:

• Cool Cat Chem Cards
• 15-minute STEM books
• Shape Aliens Game
• At the museum jigsaw
• A Day in the Life…books
• Shroot pouches
• Memberships for My Science Club
• MegaWatt Games
• SuperQuesters: The Case of Angry Sea STEM adventure books by QuestFriendz
• A collection of Science Works books
• Two space-themed 3D building playsets
• Our Living Planet book
• WWF adoption pack
• Annual subscription to Save My Exams
• A 12 month subscription to Alfresco learning

Prizes may vary by age category and by availability and we reserve the right to make changes to the prizes. Any prize awarded will be split across the team should a poster be submitted by a team.

Moving on to something less fun… (but important!), what are the rules?

We welcome entries from everyone; schools, youth or community groups, parents entering their children or any other organisations!

All entrants must be within the age categories below:

*if children are of an age that spans age category (5, 8 or 11 years old), they should be submitted for the higher age group if born between April – August.

Key rules:

• Entrants can be teams or individuals
  – teams will be judged in the age category of its oldest member
  – any prize awarded will be split across the team.
• Each school/group can enter a maximum of five entries. We encourage you to run the competition with larger groups but to select the top five to enter from your school. If you send more than five entries, we will only be able to include the first five in the competition. You can award further prizes within your school-level competition if you wish.
• Entries must be one page of A4 or A3 paper only and you will need to take a photo or scan of it to send electronically.
• Work must be original and created by the student(s) – please do not use any templates.
• Posters must be uploaded with entrant details:
  – entrant first name (all names if a team) and entrant age (all ages if a team)
  – category (of the oldest team member)
• Please name your files with the competition category,  school postcode and student’s first name in the form, i.e. ‘EY_SW75HD_Ellie’. If students share a first name, please also include a number or initial.
• Please use the abbreviation EY for Early Years, IN for Infant, JU for Junior and SE for Senior.

Please note, the data submitted will be used for the administration of the competition. First names, ages and schools of students may also be shared on our website and social media pages – if you do not want this data to be shared online you should make this explicitly clear in your submission, and we will only share school name.

Full poster competition terms & conditions:

• Only up to 5 entries per school/organisation/group are allowed.
• Only schools within the UK, including BFPO addresses, are eligible to enter the competition.
• We reserve the right to make changes to prizes.
• There will be 1 overall winner and runner up per age category. There will also be 1 popular vote winner.
• Posters will be judged on creativity, how well they fit the theme and how well the poster has been made or drawn. The popular vote winner will be chosen based on likes via the British Science Week Facebook page.
  • The winner of the popular vote will be decided based on the post with the most likes.
  • The dates and times of the popular vote will be updated closer to the time. No likes after this date shall be counted.
• Entries must be submitted digitally – scan or photos of the original poster are accepted. 3D models are not eligible for the competition. (Flaps are allowed as long as the poster still makes sense without the flaps being lifted.)
• Entries that do not include details of the entrants (see above) in the entry form will not be eligible to win a prize, although student names are not required and we encourage you NOT to send students’ full name.
• All entries must be registered through the online form to be eligible to receive a prize.
• Winners will be notified via the email submitted through the online form.
• Prizes will be posted to the address submitted via the online form.
• There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
• If the winner cannot be contacted or does not claim the prize within five days of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize from the winner and pick a replacement winner.
• The promoter’s decision in respect of all matters to do with the competition will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. This includes any judging that occurs.
• Entrant’s first name, age and school name will be announced on social media and on our website. If you do not wish for this data to be shared you should make this explicit on the entry form.
• Entries may be displayed and used for marketing, with only first names used.
• All entries must be made online, as listed above.
• The closing date for entries is at 6pm on Thursday 28 March 2024.
• Prizes are non-transferable.
• Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.

Poster competition supporters

Thank you to our 2024 poster competition supporters.