8 STEM Awards for High School Students
Looking for a way to boost your resume before college applications open? Consider applying for a STEM award open to high school students!
What are STEM awards for high school students? How do they help with college applications?
These awards demonstrate a student's dedication, hard work, and ability to excel in competitive environments.
Whether winning an award or simply participating in a challenge, the experience showcases a student's passion for learning and willingness to take on complex problems.
For college admissions, awards in competitive fields signal a strong candidate who can handle academic and extracurricular challenges.
STEM awards offer you the chance to gain broader recognition beyond just your school or local community and network with like-minded peers and industry experts.
Participating in such award competitions can also help you develop critical skills, including problem-solving, teamwork, and communication, which are highly valued in college and career settings.
In the long term, these achievements boost your academic profile and open doors to scholarships, internships, and networking opportunities in your fields of interest, which, in this case, are STEM subjects!
With that, here are 10 prestigious STEM awards you should consider applying to as a high school student!
1. Regeneron International Science and Engineering (ISEF)
Cost/Prize: Students must pay a $25 registration fee. Cash prizes range from $10,000 - $75,000 for winners in terms of cash prizes, but students also have the opportunity to win special awards like tuition scholarships, scientific outings, and summer internships.
Application Deadline: Varies by state
Submission Requirements: Students must submit their personal research project in one of the 22 categories offered for the year. Students can work individually or in teams. To qualify for ISEF, students must first win a local or state competition that ISEF recognizes to be eligible for ISEF regionals and nationals.
Eligibility: This is open to high school students who will be 20 by May 1 of the ISEF calendar year.
For over 70 years, the Society for Science has organized the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (Regeneron ISEF), the largest global competition for high school students in science. Each year, a select group of students is chosen as finalists, allowing them to compete for almost $9 million in scholarships and awards.
This prestigious event is the culmination of a series of local, regional, and national science fairs that see millions of students participate yearly. Through these fairs, you are encouraged to pursue your research in scientific inquiry, with the top performers advancing to this renowned international stage.
2. Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS)
Cost/Prize: 300 semifinalist scholars receive $2,000. The top 10 finalists receive prizes ranging from $40,000 to $250,000, the most significant scientific prize a United States student can receive.
Application Deadline: November 7, 2024.
Submission Requirements: Students must submit independent science or math research (or done with teams at universities, hospitals, or private research labs). Students must
Eligibility: Open to high school seniors graduating in 2025.
The Regeneron Science Talent Search (Regeneron STS) is the oldest and most esteemed science research competition for high school students in the U.S.
Approximately 2,000 students participate in the competition each year, submitting original research in crucial scientific disciplines and a complete application for comprehensive review. Regeneron STS is focused on building a network of both industry experts as well as students in the field, something you are encouraged to make the most of as a participant!
3. Junior Science and Humanities Symposium
Cost/Prize: In addition to regional prizes, the national competition awards a total of $192,000 in scholarships: first-place winners each receive $12,000, second-place winners receive $8,000, and third-place winners earn $4,000.
Application Deadline: Varies by region
Submission Requirements: Students must submit original research in a STEM subject.
Eligibility: Open to high school students
The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) is a notable national STEM competition for high school students supported by the Department of Defense. It invites participants to engage in original research across various fields, including biology, engineering, mathematics, and technology. Students present their findings through oral presentations and poster sessions, which STEM experts evaluate.
This program provides a valuable opportunity for students to refine their public speaking skills, receive constructive feedback, and network with peers and professionals. Regional winners advance to the national symposium, where $192,000 in scholarships is awarded, with first-place winners receiving $12,000.
Cost/Prize: Winners receive up to $1,000 in seed funding and continue to receive mentorship alongside the MIT THINK team.
Application Deadline: January 1
Submission Requirements: Students must submit a ten-page project proposal in a STEM field.
Eligibility: Open to high school students with permanent residence or citizen status in the United States.
What sets the THINK program apart from most research competitions is that it doesn’t require you to have a finished project before entering. With just background research completed, you can submit a ten-page proposal in any science, technology, or engineering field. This could earn you a spot as one of six finalists, providing funding and mentorship to bring their project to life.
If you are selected as a finalist, you will also receive a fully funded trip to MIT, where you tour research labs and meet with professors in their areas of interest.
Cost/Prize: Winners have the potential to win cash prizes up to $50,000 and the ‘Davidson Fellow’ title.
Application Deadline: Applications typically close in February.
Submission Requirements: Students must submit original research work that hits the following criteria:
“An exceptionally creative application of existing knowledge
- A new idea with high impact
- An innovative solution with broad-range implications
- An important advancement that can be replicated and built upon
- An interdisciplinary discovery
- A prodigious performance
- Another demonstration of extraordinary accomplishment.”
Eligibility: Open to high school students under 18 living in the United States. Teams can be two students at maximum.
The Davidson Fellows Scholarship is a prestigious program that awards scholarships of $10,000, $25,000, or $50,000 to more than 20 highly gifted young individuals each year. Applicants must have completed a significant project in STEM, literature, music, philosophy, or unique, "outside the box" innovations. As a participant, your work must contribute to society and be acknowledged by experts as impactful, whether through innovative solutions, groundbreaking ideas, or advancements in a specific field.
If you are selected as an award recipient, you will be invited to an annual event in Washington, D.C., where you can meet with Congressional representatives. Besides the financial awards, scholars receive national recognition and become part of a distinguished network of past fellows and professionals.
Cost/Prize: Expense-paid trip to Washington, DC, for ExploraVision Awards Weekend, $10,000 (at maturity) savings bond, Chromebooks, banners, plaques, etc.
Application Deadline: January 31, 2025
Submission Requirements: Students in teams of 2-4 must submit research on how current technology can be improved.
Eligibility: Open to high school students who study in the US or Canada
The ExploraVision competition encourages K-12 students to engage in real-world problem-solving with a strong focus on STEM. This competition challenges participants to imagine and articulate new technologies that could exist ten or more years into the future, combining collaborative brainstorming with research into current scientific advancements.
Working in teams of 2-4, guided by a teacher sponsor, you will select a current technology, investigate it, and predict how it might evolve over the next decade or more. You must outline the steps for development, potential benefits and drawbacks, and any obstacles they might face. Previous winners have proposed innovations ranging from portable food allergen detectors to advanced devices enabling real-time movement for those with lost limbs.
Cost/Prize: The winners receive $100,000 and access to Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. The two runner-up teams receive $50,000 each. The World Champion will also have 1-on-1 mentorship with Microsoft experts and with Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.
Application Deadline: November 1, 2024 - January 22, 2025
Submission Requirements: Students must design software using Microsoft technology and tools to solve a real-world problem.
Eligibility: Open to high school students 18+.
The Imagine Cup is a global technology competition hosted by Microsoft. You are expected to use your creativity and technical skills to develop data-driven solutions to real-world problems. As a participant, you are allowed to create applications, games, or systems that address global challenges in categories like health, education, and the environment.
As a team, you will compete for prizes, including mentorship, funding, and the opportunity to pitch your projects to experts.
8. Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation
The Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation stands as a non-profit research program tailored for gifted students from low-income backgrounds. Stemming from the Lumiere Research Scholar Program, renowned for its extensive one-on-one research opportunities for high school students, the foundation provides the same access to independent research experiences at zero cost.
The Lumiere Breakthrough Scholar Program is the equivalent of the Individual Research Scholar Program at Lumiere Education. In our flagship program, we pair talented high-school students with world-class Ph.D. mentors to work 1-on-1 on an independent research project. At the end of the 12-week program, you’ll develop an independent research paper. You can choose topics from subjects such as psychology, physics, economics, data science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, international relations, and more. You can apply here!
This program is a particularly solid option if you are interested in interdisciplinary research and want to create an individual research paper.
Cost: The program is fully funded!
Location: Remote — you can participate in this program from anywhere in the world!
Application Deadline: 4 annual cohorts run in fall, spring, summer, and winter
Program Dates: Vary based on yearly cohort.
Eligibility:
You must be currently enrolled in high school or plan to enroll as a freshman in college in the fall of 2023.
Students must demonstrate a high level of academic achievement. (Note. Students have an unweighted GPA of 3.3 out of 4)
No previous knowledge of your field of interest is required!
Bonus opportunity - Veritas AI
If you want to build a project/research paper in STEM and AI & ML, consider applying to Veritas AI!
Veritas AI is founded by Harvard graduate students. Through the programs, you get a chance to work 1:1 with mentors from universities like Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and more to create unique, personalized projects. In the past year, we had over 1000 students learn AI & ML with us. You can apply here!
Image Source - Davidson Fellows logo