Important Dates for the 2021 Fair

December 1, 2020 — Certification deadline.

Certification of all projects that fall under ISEF certification rules. Note that the Form 1C is not required for certification. ISEF forms must be submitted by this date for any project that involves hazardous equipment or materials, vertebrate animals, human subjects, biological microorganisms of any kind, or recombinant DNA.

Some schools have been authorized for local SRCs. Please note that there is an EXCEPTION to the local SRC process. We require that projects involving vertebrate animals be approved by the NJRSF SRC (not just the local SRC, if one exists) before the work is begun. If your project falls under this rule, you must request an SRC review, since the existence of your local SRC will prevent it from being triggered automatically.

Feb 8, 2021

All students involved in individual or team projects must have their projects registered on the website and all NJRSF and ISEF forms submitted electronically by this date. For projects where it is required, a preliminary Form 1C must be submitted if the final is not yet available. Once you have completed the project registration, you should access your Entry Status screen (on the Students dropdown on the navbar) to view instructions for completing your entry, including advisor certification, category certification, electronic form submission, electronic form signatures, and payment of non‑refundable submission fees. See the Virtual Fair FAQ for other details.

Your NJRSF Research Plan Form and Form 1C must be submitted by this date for your project to be included in the Phase I Judging. Entries with incomplete or missing Research Plans and/or Form 1Cs will be automatically withdrawn from the Fair.

Feb 26, 2021: Final SRC clearance date. Phase I judging results announced.

Any issues with your submitted ISEF forms must be cleared by this date.

If applicable to your project, the final Form 1C must be submitted by this date.

If applicable to your project, your Project Summary must also be submitted by this date. If you upload a summary, it should be on the same form as the research plan, but identified as the Project Summary at the time you upload it. The purpose of a summary is to document any omissions from your original plan. This is only important if you plan to continue the work in a subsequent year.

March 5, 2021, Abstract, Presentation, and Supplemental Registration deadline

Abstracts are to be submitted or finalized electronically. (You must be logged in on the website in order for this process to work properly.) You should submit the *text* of your abstract in the online form. No other format is accepted. Abstracts are manually reviewed before they are posted on the site, so be sure you make allowance for that delay. Abstracts submitted earlier in the process can be revised until this date.

For projects which are not participating in the judging phase of the fair the abstract deadline is March 12.

Your presentation file (powerpoint or pdf) must be submitted by this date. These files, which will be inspected by the Display and Safety Committee for compliance with display rules, will be used for the virtual judging interviews.

March 12, 2021, Deadline for approval of Presentation File

For projects being judged further, your presentation file must be approved by the Display and Safety Committee on or before this date. Since the reviews take time, do not put this off to the last minute.

IMPORTANT NOTE Some special award judges will be reviewing projects for preliminary selection starting March 8. The presentation file must be approved before it is released, so take that into account in your planning. Early submission is a good idea.

For projects not participating in the judging phase the presentation file must be submitted by this date, and will be released after approval.

March 19, 2021: start of judging, Category Judging

The Fair will be held virtually. The schedule is not complete in detail, but what we know now can be found in this link. The category judging interviews will be with an individual judge. You will be asked to stay in your virtual project "room" for the duration of the judging.

March 25, 2021 THURSDAY will be the Special Awards judging

Again, this will be an evening event. Projects will be preselected for these interviews, and you will receive a schedule for the interviews. Many of these interviews will be with a panel of judges, not an individual judge.

March 27, 2021, Awards Ceremony

March 29, 2021, Release of Public Virtual Fair

Your abstract will link to the presentation file, which will become public at this point, providing you gave permission on your Supplementary Registration form. You will have the option, either before or after the fair, to submit a recorded video, using your approved presentation file, to describe your project. These videos will be accessible only for the public virtual fair: they are not used (or viewed) before or during judging. These videos will also be subject to approval by the Display and Safety Committee.