Enter The Big Bang Competition
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition is free to enter. It's open to young people in the UK aged 11 to 18 in state-funded secondary education, who are home educated, or who enter as part of a community group. Entries are split into 3 categories: science, engineering and technology. Enter a project individually or as part of a team, and win life-changing prizes and exciting opportunities.
The Big Bang Competition is open for entries! Entries close on 26 March at 5pm.
Key dates
Learn everything you need to know about The Big Bang Competition. Find out what happens and when:
- Entry deadline: 26 March 2025 at 5pm
Don't forget the entry deadline! This date is final and we can't offer extensions. If you need to make a change, you can edit your entry after submitting, up until the deadline - Finalist announcement: 29 April 2025
Exciting! All entrants will get an email sharing the status of your project and if you're a finalist. Fingers crossed! - Video call judging: 7 May to 14 May 2025
Over a week, the finalists for Special Awards and those in the running for top prizes - UK Young Scientist(s), UK Young Engineer(s) and UK Young Technologist(s), will be invited to further judging over a Microsoft Teams video call with a panel of friendly judges. Now's your time to shine! If you're a finalist for one of these awards, The Competition team will be in touch to arrange dates and times for these calls - Project showcase: taking place at The Big Bang Fair in June 2025
Share your project with the world! Select finalists will be invited to showcase their project at The Big Bang Fair. We'll start to notify finalists from 29 April if your project has been selected to showcase at The Big Bang Fair. Due to space, we can't have everyone, but any finalists not initially selected to showcase can join a waitlist. Once space opens up at the showcase, we'll get in touch - Winners announced: At The Big Bang Competition Awards Ceremony, taking place at The Big Bang Fair in June 2025
Assessment criteria
One of the first things to consider when you start your project is our assessment criteria – the different things that our judges will consider when scoring your project. The main advice from judges is for competitors to provide as much relevant information as possible. We understand that recent restrictions may impact students’ ability to fully complete their projects and judges will bear this in mind when judging projects. Familiarise yourself with the full criteria below on the Big Bang website.