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.
In 2026, the poster competition is taking curiosity to the next level! We’re working with a team of scientists and researchers who are curious about what children and young people think will make a ‘good’/’positive’ childhood in the future.
The competition is now open for entries; the closing date is 6 pm on Thursday 16 April 2026.
Once children and young people have created their posters, you can enter up to five from your setting using our competition submission platform. Please read the full briefs, guidance and rules before entering.
Submit entries
The research behind this year’s poster competition
The UK government are thinking about how to build a positive future for children. They are keen to understand children and young people’s own ideas on this, so they are asking:
What are children and young people’s visions for a good/positive childhood?
The British Science Association and the NUSTEM team at Northumbria University have teamed up with the Government Office for Science to help explore this question.
How will the poster competition entries be used?
Once the competition is closed for entries, all the submitted posters will be considered by a team of judges. We’ll also collect some data, like where in the UK the posters are from, the age of the entrants, and the themes that they reflect. This data will be anonymised before being analysed. The team at NUSTEM will also look in detail at some of the posters, to gather further ideas and insights based on the children and young people’s entries. They will then be able to look for patterns and trends as they analyse the results.
To help with this process we will be asking teachers/educators/group leaders to identify themes within the posters. The researchers will also do this – but you know your young people best and your help will be invaluable in communicating their responses to us. When uploading your five entries, you will be asked to ‘tag’ each poster with up to five theme tags.
What will happen to the findings of the research?
Once the posters have been analysed, the results will be published in a report. As soon as this is available, we will share the results with everyone who takes part in the competition so you can see the outcomes and insights – it should be a fascinating piece of research!
Before making a poster
Before creating a poster, please make sure you:
- Read the full competition briefs below first, including prompts and resources to support discussion and thinking, before children and young people go on to make their posters. You can also find these briefs included in the 2026 activity packs.
- Children in early years (3-5) will be thinking about the question ‘What makes children’s lives good?’
Early years brief - Primary aged children (5-11) will be considering the questions ‘What makes children’s lives positive? What will a positive childhood look like in the future for children your age?’
Primary brief - Young people in the senior age categories (11-19) will be exploring the questions ‘What makes children’s lives positive? What will a positive childhood look like in the future for young people your age?’
Secondary brief
- Children in early years (3-5) will be thinking about the question ‘What makes children’s lives good?’
- Read the full terms and conditions
Full poster competition terms & conditions
Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions.
Making your poster
Once children and young people have had the opportunity to explore the questions and gather their thoughts, it’s time to get creative! They should present their own, original ideas by creating a poster using any materials they like, including digitally. Please make sure posters are the students’ own work, without the use of any templates. Posters must be A4 or A3 in size (no 3D models please!) and you’ll need to be able to supply a 2D image of it (e.g. photo, jpeg or PDF file) so it can be sent to us online for judging. Flaps can be included, but the poster should still make sense without the flaps being lifted.
Older entrants in the senior categories might like to take inspiration from the way that research scientists present their work through posters.
Shortlisted posters are often shared publicly, so please don’t include any personally identifiable information such as names or photos of real people.
Send us your posters
Once the posters are complete, they can be entered by schools, or home group, or individuals, etc. Your setting should select the five best (max five poster for each entry) and submit them for a chance of winning an array of prizes.
Children and young people can work individually on their own entry, or as a team on a joint poster.
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:
- Content – a clear, thoughtful and informative response to the research questions
- Effective communication – ideas presented and communicated in an engaging way
- Creativity in approach – a creative response to the brief – don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
Members of staff at the British Science Association will shortlist entries, and a panel of judges will select a winner in each category. The runners up in each category will be uploaded to our Facebook page and the public will decide on a ‘popular vote’ winner.
What are the prizes?
Thanks to generous donations from our poster competition supporters, we always have a fantastic range of STEM-themed prizes on offer! Last year prizes included STEM themed games, toys, books, magazines and memberships.
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:
| Age* | Competition | England and Wales | Northern Ireland | Scotland | |
| Early Years | 3-5 | See early years brief | Nursery/Reception | Nursery/P1 | Nursery/P1 |
| Infant | 5-8 | See primary brief | Year 1- Year 3 | P2 – P4 | P2 – P4 |
| Junior | 8-11 | See primary brief | Year 4- Year 6 | P5 -P7 | P5 -P7 |
| Senior 1 | 11-14 | See secondary brief | Year 7 – Year 9 | Year 8 – Year 10 | S1- S3 |
| Senior 2 | 14-16 | See secondary brief | Year 10 -Year 11 | Year 11 – Year 12 | S4 |
| Senior 3 | 16-19 | See secondary brief | 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/individual 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 setting. 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 or setting 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, as well as the research analysis. 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.