First of all, for those of you who may not be familiar with the Science Engineering Fair of Houston (SEFH), let me provide you with a brief introduction as to what we are about.  In 1960, the Engineers Council of Houston (ECH) and The Houston Post, organized a science fair for Houston I.S.D.  Since that time we have expanded to serve as a regional fair for Harris County and sixteen other surrounding counties and we are affiliated with the International Science Engineering Fair headquartered in Washington, D.C.  We are recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization.  Our primary objective is to encourage and recognize students who want to utilize their classroom experiences to "do" science and engineering.

SEFH is a volunteer, non-profit organization composed of engineers, scientists, and educators.  Approximately 90% of our operating costs are paid for by donations from foundations, business and industry and professional societies.  Because of this we do expect that industrial/business organizations and societies who serve as special awarding agencies will also be financial supporters of the Fair, at a level appropriate to the size of their organization.

The Special Awards phase of the SEFH is just as important to us as the judging we do for the place award winners of each category and division.  The fair is normally held on Thursday-Saturday around the last of March or first of April, with the special award judging on Friday afternoon and evening.  The Awards Ceremony is the following Saturday afternoon.

TYPE OF PROJECT TO RECOGNIZE

It is your responsibility to determine what particular type of project(s) you want to recognize.  We strongly encourage you to give awards in each of our three divisions: Junior (grades 7&8), Ninth, and Senior (grades 10-12).  Each division has the same categories for individual projects, which are: Behavioral/Social Science, Biochemistry/Microbiology, Botany, Chemistry, Computers, Earth/Space Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Mathematics, Medicine/Health, Physics, and Zoology.  The Junior Division also has 2 or 3-member team competition in four categories:  see entry form for Team Projects (in Rules & Guidelines) for these 4 categories.  If you are in doubt as to what categories you need to judge for a certain topic, contact the SEFH office.  For example, projects dealing with water pollution might be entered in all of the following categories: biochemistry/microbiology, botany, chemistry, engineering, environmental science, earth/space science, medicine/health, and zoology.

TYPE OF AWARD

The type of award you want to present is up to you.  We would prefer that you not give money unless it is in the form of a scholarship or a summer work fellowship.  Commonly given awards include plaques, framed certificates, calculators, computers, reference books, journal subscriptions, pen & pencil sets, brief cases, T-shirts, etc.  If you are a society that has evening dinner meetings, we encourage you to invite the student, their teacher, and parents, to a meeting for additional recognition.  If you want to include the student's name on the award, then you can give them a letter at the Awards Ceremony stating that they will receive the plaque or whatever, at a later date.  Most awards do not include the name of the winner, just the title of the award, so that the award can be presented at the Award Ceremony.

JUDGING CRITERIA

You will need to decide the criteria you want to use for evaluating the projects appropriate for your award(s)  You may want to review copies of the official score sheets used by the SEFH Judges in determining the place award winners for individual and team projects.  It is not required that you use these score sheets; in fact, you may decide to not use any scoring sheet if you only judge a small number of projects.  The students are aware that they will be judged by the SEFH judges with respect to these stated criteria.  Judges should note that it is not essential for a project to be completely original.  It is essential, however, for the student to clearly acknowledge the source(s) of ideas that went into his or her project.  Appropriate recognition should be given to those projects which do contain clearly original ideas and which demonstrate the student's creativity--both in the genesis and in the execution of the project.  Judges should ascertain whether the student has applied the proper scientific and/or engineering principles in the design and execution of the experiment and carried out their data collection and analysis in a systematic manner.  The project's conclusions should follow logically from the data analysis and reflect careful consideration by the student of possible errors in the experiment.  Do not be misled by fancy project displays which involve very little good science or engineering.  Some projects will represent a continuing effort over several years (we encourage this if the student has a good idea to pursue).  We ask that you judge such projects based on what they have done for this particular fair.  Such projects will have a Roman numeral after the title.

Finally, Judges must evaluate the quality of the student presentation.  Judges should be prepared to hear "very polished" presentations from the more experienced students.  It is suggested that each judge go beyond the student's prepared presentation by posing questions which determine the student's level of understanding of the principals underlying their project.  This is also a point where the judge can make a substantive contribution to the student's education.  By present penetrating questions to the student, answering questions asked by the student, and making helpful comments and suggestions, the judging process becomes a valuable learning experience for the student.

JUDGING PROCEDURE

Depending on the number of projects to be reviewed, you will need to organize one or more judging teams.  Your judging must be completed within the time frame allocated for special award judging.  After you have determined the winners, turn that information into a member of the Special Award Committee and approve your section of the awards ceremony script before you leave the Fair on Friday evening.  What you turn in to us is what will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday in the Astroarena.

Please note that when you are judging, you are not allowed to ask the name of the student, their teacher, or school.  That information will be available to you in the special awards judges meeting area.  You must also keep the winners of your award confidential until they are announced at the Awards Ceremony.

As mentioned in the criteria section, we want the students to have a positive and beneficial learning experience from their participation in this event.  We are pleased that SEFH has more special awarding agencies and judges than any other science engineering fair in the world.  We encourage you to make constructive suggestions for students to consider in future projects.  Many of our judges contact students after the Fair and offer them assistance for next year.  Some even arrange for visits in their laboratories.  Above all, maintain a professional manner throughout the judging process.  Remember that you are a role model for the students that you judge.  Their choice of a career may well depend on their experience as an exhibitor at our fair.  Be gentle, be helpful, be fair, and be discreet.

AWARDS CEREMONY

The Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday afternoon as specified in the Time Schedule.  Because we have about 100 awarding agencies, it is necessary that your awards presenter arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the ceremony.