Rules and eligibility
Read the rules below and learn if you're eligible to enter The Big Bang Competition.
Definitions:
Project Lead Contact: an adult aged 18 and over who will enter project work on behalf of entrants, such as a teacher, careers leader, parent/carer, home educator, community group leader, or student aged 18 and over.
Competitors: the young person / people whose project work is being entered into The Big Bang Competition.
Who is eligible to enter The Big Bang Competition
Entry to The Competition is free and open to students studying in UK.
Students currently studying outside of the UK are not eligible to take part in The Competition.
Competitors can only enter one project into The Competition, either as an individual or as part of a team.
Competitors must be aged between 11 and 18 when the project is entered, and in full-time state funded secondary education or who are home educated or who enter as part of a community group.
Students who attend independent or private schools, independent colleges or independent sixth forms are not eligible to enter The Big Bang Competition 2027 or showcase projects in The Big Bang Project Gallery. However, to support state-funded schools - joint entries can be submitted from teams comprising an equal number of independent school/partner state school students, via the state school entry.
A student may take part in The Competition if they are aged 19 whilst in full-time state funded secondary education or training when the project is entered.
Projects will be entered into one of three categories according to the competitor’s school year in the academic year 2026/27:
Category | England and Wales | Northern Ireland | Scotland |
Junior | Years 7 to 9 | Years 8 to 10 | Years S1 to S3 |
Intermediate | Years 10 to 11 | Years 11 to 12 | Years S4 to S5 |
Senior | Years 12 to 13 | Years 13 to 14 | Year S6 |
How to enter The Big Bang Competition
8. Entry into The Competition is through the online entry only, via Award Force. Online entry will open in the Autumn term 2026 and close Friday 12 March 2027, at 4pm.
9. All projects must be entered into The Competition by an adult aged 18 and over, such as a teacher, career leader, parent/carer, community group leader or home educator. A Competitor aged 18 and over may enter their own work into The Competition.
10. The adult that enters project work into The Competition becomes the ‘Project Lead Contact’ and is responsible for managing the entry on behalf of their Competitors throughout the duration of the programme. This includes ensuring the entry is submitted, responding to communications from The Competition team, and ensuring finalists attend further judging, or The Big Bang Competition Showcase and Awards Ceremony, if invited to participate.
11. Competitors aged 17 and under must not enter their own work into The Competition and must not be the project lead contact. If it is discovered that a competitor aged 17 and under has entered their project work without the supervision of an adult aged 18 and over, the entry may be removed from The Competition.
12. It is the responsibility of the project lead contact to inform EngineeringUK of any change to their contact details. Failure to do so may result in the entrant not receiving notification of results or other correspondence.
13. Competitors should present their project work in the form of a written entry and/or a short video.
14. Competitors may also provide up to 6 supporting materials, including photos, illustrations, graphs, tables etc.
15. Video entries must be up to 6 minutes long. Judges will not review videos past the 6-minute mark.
16. For written entries, competitors must keep to the following maximum word count:
Project overview: 150 words
Project concept: 300 words
Project process: 600 words
Project outcomes: 400 words
Ethical considerations: 200 words
Next steps and reflections: 350 words
Project work conduct rules and ethical consideration
17. Plagiarism is prohibited. The project entry must be the original work of the entrant(s) only.
18. All projects must demonstrate ethical consideration in their entry submission. This includes considering the impact and wellbeing of subjects actively taking part in the project work (e.g., humans who are taking part in surveys), or / and potential impacts of the completed project (e.g., long-term impacts of project outcomes on other people, communities, or the environment).
19. EngineeringUK reserves the right to challenge any projects that may appear to cause substantial negative impacts on test subjects. This includes causing harm or unjustified discomfort to humans, animals, or the environment during the project process (e.g., testing hazardous substances on insects). Projects must consider the wellbeing of test subjects in their project entry, and where possible get consent from subjects before engaging in project activities.
20. Any projects involving interaction with humans or use of hazardous substances or devices must be in keeping with national health and safety guidelines and those of the entrant’s educational institution.
21. Competitors can use artificial intelligence (AI) to help with their project. The project must still be the competitor’s own work. The ideas, choices, conclusions and effort should come from the competitor(s).
If competitors have used AI in their project work, they must tell us:
Where AI has been used in their project
Which AI tool they have used (for example, ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude)
How AI was used to help with the project work
22. EngineeringUK reserves the right to challenge any projects that may appear to have used artificial intelligence generated work in place of their own effort and without acknowledgement of it’s use in the project entry.
23. Please note that different AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude, will have their own terms and conditions of use, which you must review. This may include minimum age to use, and the requirement of parent/carer supervision. It is the responsibility of the project lead contact to ensure that competitors are using AI tools in alignment to the tool’s terms and conditions.
Team-specific rules
24. Projects can be completed by teams of any size.
25. If not all team members are able to attend judging, then those who do attend must represent the whole team and inform the judges which area of the projects they focused on themselves.
26. All team members must be eligible to enter The Competition even if all members are not able to attend judging or the Award Ceremony.
27. If not all team members are able to attend the Award Ceremony for any reason, then the project lead contact has responsibility for appropriate allocation of any prizes awarded.
28. Where teams have members spread across age categories, the entire team will be allocated based on the age category appropriate to the highest year group.
Judging and awards
29. We will only consider projects that have been submitted into The Competition; projects that have not been submitted will not be reviewed by judges.
30. The judges’ decisions are final and no appeals will be heard or correspondence, relating to result determination, entered into.
31. Selected finalists will be invited to take part in a Finals judging video call with judges. These judging sessions will take place between Wednesday 28 April to Thursday 6 May. The Competition will confirm whether finalists have been selected to attend a judging video call on Tuesday 20 April.
The date of the judging session cannot be changed. The time of the judging session may be adjusted in exceptional circumstances, such as examinations or other urgent conflicts, at the discretion of The Competition team. The project lead contact is responsible for ensuring that any finalist competitors are available to attend their allocated Finals judging video call.
32. EngineeringUK reserves the right to revise these rules and regulations at any time. Should it be necessary to do so, The Competition organisers (EngineeringUK) will make every effort to communicate any changes to interested parties as quickly as possible.
33. There will be one winner in each age category (Junior, Intermediate, Senior) and an overall winner in each stream, Science, Engineering or Technology.
34. Runners-up may also be allocated within each age category and stream.
35. There will be one winner for each special award. Special awards may have other rules / criteria which are different to the core Big Bang Competition prizes and will only be awarded where these criteria have been met.
36. The winners will be announced at The Competition Awards Ceremony at The Big Bang Fair.
37. A full list of prize winners will be published on The Competition website and in any other publications selected by the organisers.
Research and evaluation
Please note that by taking part in The Competition, competitors and project lead contacts will be invited to take part in an evaluation. For more information please see the research and evaluation terms and conditions.
Intellectual property
Intellectual property of the entries remains the property of the entrant. By taking part in The Competition the competitor agrees to allow EngineeringUK to use their entry online, on public display, in marketing and in the media to promote The Competition free of charge and with no time limit.
The competitor also agrees to EngineeringUK sharing their entry with Competition judges as part of the Competition (Judges are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement before judging commences.
Data privacy
For information about how we handle your and the competitors information please refer to our privacy policy.
General
EngineeringUK may suspend, cancel or amend the Competition and/or review and revise these terms and conditions at any time without giving prior notice.
Nothing in these Terms shall exclude or place limits on EngineeringUK’s liability for any death or personal injury caused by EngineeringUK’s negligence or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited by law.
To the fullest extent permitted by law EngineeringUK exclude all liability for loss or damage arising out of or in connection with Competitor’s participation in the Competition. This exclusion covers, but is not limited to, liability for:
any direct loss;
any loss of profit;
any loss of revenue, anticipate savings or goodwill; or
any indirect or consequential loss.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all representations and warranties relating to the Competition and the content on it.
Viruses and bugs
EngineeringUK does not guarantee that The Competition sites will be free from viruses, bugs or other harmful code or programs. It is your and the Competitor’s responsibility to ensure that the equipment and devices you and the Competitor use to access The Competition are installed with up to date and sufficient anti-virus software.
You must not intentionally introduce viruses, bugs or other harmful code or programs to The Competition websites
You must not attempt to hack or attack or attempt to gain unauthorised access to The Competition websites, any part of it or any software or equipment connected to it. EngineeringUK may take legal action against you and we may disclose your details to law enforcement agencies where EngineeringUK believe this is necessary or if EngineeringUK are required to disclose them by law. EngineeringUK may take any other action as EngineeringUK consider is necessary.
Sign up to our newsletter
Join our mailing list to get regular updates and stay in the know. You'll be the first to find out when we drop new resources, open funding applications or open registrations. We won't spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time.
