New Mexico Academy of Science/

New Mexico Junior Academy of Science Scientific Paper Competition

The New Mexico Junior Academy of Science is a special program of the New Mexico Academy of Science (NMAS) that promotes student research, participation in Science Fairs and sponsors an annual scientific paper competition.  Science education has focused primarily on the background and tools necessary to do scientific research, but there is little emphasis on writing about and orally presenting the results of research. The paper competition was instituted as a means of aiding and encouraging young scientists in the written and oral communication of the results of their research. The competitions are held in conjunction with the Regional (6) and State Science and Engineering Fairs.  They are open to middle and high school students whether public, private, or home schooled, from across the state of New Mexico. There are two levels of competition; the junior division (grades 6-8) and the senior division (grades 9-12).  First and second place winners at the regional level are awarded cash prizes and the opportunity to present their papers at the state competition.  Cash prizes are awarded to the first, second and third place winners in both divisions at the state level. The competition has two components, a written research paper and an oral presentation of the research; each component is 50% of the final ranking. Students are encouraged to write their papers just as they would for a professional journal. The judges receive the student papers several weeks ahead of the competition and grade the papers. The judges also write suggestions and comments on the papers which are returned to the students after the competition. The students then give an oral presentation using PowerPoint just as a researcher would at a professional meeting. The presentations are limited to 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of questioning by the judges. The judges grade the presentations and then caucus to determine the overall winners.

The first, second and third place winners in the Senior Division and exceptional Junior Division winners at the State Competition are invited to submit their papers to the online New Mexico Journal of Science for publication. Winners are also invited to give oral presentation at the annual EPSCOR/NMAS Conference.