The British Science Week poster competition takes place every year and invites young people from across the UK to take part. Each year, the competition is based on a fresh theme.
The 2026 poster competition information will be updated here soon.
Rules for poster competition
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:
| Age* | Category | England and Wales | Northern Ireland | Scotland | |
| Early Years | 3-5 | General | Nursery/Reception | Nursery/P1 | Nursery/P1 |
| Infant | 5-8 | General | Year 1- Year 3 | P2 – P4 | P2 – P4 |
| Junior | 8-11 | General or Secondary category | Year 4- Year 6 | P5 -P7 | P5 -P7 |
| Senior 1 | 11-14 | Secondary category | Year 7 – Year 9 | Year 8 – Year 10 | S1- S3 |
| Senior 2 | 14-16 | Secondary category | Year 10 -Year 11 | Year 11 – Year 12 | S4 |
| Senior 3 | 16-19 | Secondary category | Year 12 – Year 13 | Year 13 – Year 14 | S5-6 |
* If children are of an age that spans categories (e.g. 5, 8, 11, 14 or 16 years old), they should be submitted for the higher age group if born between April – August.
* Please enter students with SEND into the category that best fits their level of work, regardless of their age.
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 in total. 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 S1, S2 or S3 for the Senior age categories.
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 overall popular vote winner.
- Posters will be judged based on the judging criteria for each competition category. 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 names.
- 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.
- Prizes are non-transferable.
- Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.