Around this time of year, students are developing their posters for their projects and getting ready to submit them. Although it’s less lengthy than your research paper or even research plan, the poster is judged heavily and often feeds into the scoring of your judging presentation and judging interaction. 

I noticed that at most fairs, particularly at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the judges will circle the fair to your tabling setup with your poster and props before you actually have a conversation with them.

Usually, they take a few minutes per poster, but it’s enough for them to get an understanding of your project (in addition to the abstract and other background information they have) and develop any questions. Ultimately, the poster is a very important part of your final deliverables.

I’m Kara Gaiser, a ScienceFair Coach and Mechanical Engineering student at UC Berkeley, focused on the aerospace industry with experience at NASA and space startups. In high school, I competed in all levels of science fairs from regional to Regeneron ISEF, where I am a two-time Grand Award winner.

In this article, I focus on your poster as judges experience it: how they scan it before speaking with you, how it shapes their questions, and how small design or content choices can influence scoring.

Why Your Science Fair Poster Matters in Judging

Through all levels of science fairs, your poster is your best tool to make your project stand out. It’s easy to copy a template online and fill in the blanks, but catering your poster to the judging audience, impact, and specifics of your project will make your project shine.

The poster is also important because you can use it as leverage while answering the judges' questions. You can simplify complicated concept explanations with graphs, data tables, pictures, and diagrams that you can point to while talking to your judges.

This method is also useful for your elevator pitch, as pointing to a specific part of your board could act as a silent “cue” for transitioning to another topic, a clever way to assist with memorization.

What Judges Expect to See on a Science Fair Display Board

Your science fair board should ultimately have a good balance of the following:

• The Basics: 

  • Your background/introduction (ideally a bullet-pointed, concise list), 

  • your procedure(s), 

  • a visual representation of your results (graphs, data tables), 

  • Statistical analysis and conclusions (ideally graphs or visual representations if possible, tangible metrics), 

  • Conclusions and future applications/work, references, etc. 

  • Other sections could include your past, related work (if you have a continuation project), or additional application-focused sections (impact, industry applications, market fit, etc), so make this board tailored to your project. 

  • Most fairs mandate that you do not include your abstract on your board, as they want to ensure that your abstract is consistent with your officially submitted abstract. This will give you more space for pictures and data! 

• The Aesthetics: something eye-catching, but not overwhelmingly bright colored or design-heavy. Something that relates to your topic and allows you to stand out visually. 

This is your opportunity to make it visually appealing and add a creative element to your presentation. Something as simple as a consistent, fitting color scheme, font choice (as long as it’s readable), or layout is great to customize. 

The big thing here is that you want to ensure everything is readable and not visually overwhelming. This means making your graph axis labels and subtitles large enough to read from a few feet away, making sure your title doesn’t take up too much space, and that your word-heavy elements aren’t too crowded.

Make sure the text box borders are centered and aligned well with the rest of the poster, and there is nothing visually “off” that could be distracting.

Learn more about designing and building your poster.

What a Professional Looking Science Fair Poster Signals to Judges

You need to have a clean, professional science fair poster. Concise language, centered textboxes, bullet points, readable graphs, free of typos, etc.

This part is straightforward. Review, review, review! 

Make sure there are no typos, redundant language, first-person language (“I”, “my”, “we”, etc) unless needed, or unnecessary information on your board. Keep the “what I would’ve done better” statements off the board and save that for a conversation; this could be used against you. 

Ensure your language is concise while maintaining grammatical accuracy. Stick to bullet-pointed thoughts, rather than paragraphs (one exception to this is for the conclusion). This makes it easier for you and your judge to read! 

Also, be sure to include ALL of your references, the same ones you put in your paper. This can be a smaller font or visually condensed to your needs.

Ask for Feedback on Your Science Fair Poster

If your board falls short of any of these points, they could be easily noticeable and may cost you some points or award placements on the fair judging rubric. The human eye notices small flaws very easily, so ensuring you incorporate friends, family, teachers, or ScienceFair Mentors’ feedback is key to making sure you submit a polished poster. 

Ask for specific feedback like:

• Readability: Is my board easy to read? Is there anything that you can’t read easily?

• Concise: Is anything too wordy? Do I need to explain anything more?

• Visuals: Is there anything visually off-putting to you? Do any images/graphs need to be larger?

• Easy Fixes: Are there any typos? Am I missing an important section?

For more general information regarding rules for your display, please refer to the official Regeneron ISEF Display and Safety Rules. It is also useful to double-check your regional or state fair’s specific regulations around posters; they may want you to include specific things.

Get Expert Feedback on Your Science Fair Poster

Your poster does more than display your work. It shapes how judges understand your project, develop questions, and evaluate your presentation.

ScienceFair mentors are past ISEF winners and experienced judges who know what stands out at competitive fairs and what can quietly cost points.

If you want targeted feedback on your display board, including layout, clarity, and how judges are likely to interpret your data, schedule a consultation to create a personalized plan.

Schedule a consultation call to connect with one of our team members and create a personalized plan tailored to your needs.