- The fair coordinator (school or state) has the final decision on matters pertaining to the fair if these matters are not covered in fair regulations.
- Disqualification of projects not meeting the project rules is the responsibility of the fair coordinator(s).
- Any challenge at the school or state level must be submitted within 1 business day following the fair. Once the official results have been finalized following judging, the fair director will only modify or overrule a judge's decision in the event of an obvious mathematical error in the scoring process.
- The fair coordinator at each level of competition (school or state) has sole and final authority to resolve issues, concerns, conflicts, or disputes at that level of competition. State fair coordinators will not intervene in matters related to school fairs.
- Each project must include a prerecorded oral presentation (either as a video or voice-over PowerPoint presentation) and written abstract (in the approved format with a complete bibliography). A project that does not include the required components shall be disqualified from competition.
- Emphasis must be on methods of research, inquiry, creative problem solving and predictions regarding the issues rather than on “displays” or “collections of artifacts.”
- Student, school or county names must not appear on any part of the project or abstract with the exception of projects about community or family histories.
- Students may ask others for help and direction, but they must do all of the work themselves.
- Projects may be modified or improved between the school and state competition; however, the theme must be maintained.
- A student may enter only ONE project.
- Each project must represent the unique work of the student who developed it. The fair director may disqualify a project if it is determined that the student duplicated the work of another student, committed plagiarism, or engaged in other egregious violations of generally accepted academic integrity standards.
- The registration process for school fairs will be determined by the school fair coordinator.
- School fair coordinators are responsible for registering projects for the state fair using the WV State Social Studies Fair Online Registration System at www.wvssfair.com. Use of this system is mandatory. Detailed information on the use of the Online Registration System will be provided to school fair coordinators.
- It is the responsibility of the school fair coordinator to ensure the accuracy of registration information (student name, project title, category selection, etc.) prior to submission.
- There will be TWO levels of competition: school and state.
- Each participating school may send only one first place winner to the state fair. A first place winner is defined as the highest scoring project in the school, or Best in Fair, with a score of 90 or above. A project must score a minimum of 90 out of 100 points to move on as a first place winner to the next level of competition. If no project scores 90 points or better then no project will move on to the next level of competition.
- In the event that a first place project is unable to attend the state fair, a second place project may be substituted if: 1) The substitution is made BEFORE the school fair coordinator submits project information to the State Social Studies Fair; AND 2) The second place project scored 90 or above at the school fair. NO substitutions may be made after project information has been submitted to the state.
- All projects must be classified by the exhibitor at the time of entry by division (grade level) and category (subject).
- Divisions: Division I (Grades 3-5), Division II (Grade 6-8), and Division III (Grades 9-12).
- Categories: Anthropology, Economics, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, State and Local Studies, United States History, World History.
- Types: Only those projects completed by an individual student may participate in the state fair. Group projects are not eligible.
- Projects in a specific division and category will compete only against other projects of the same division and category. For example, a project classified as Division I Anthropology will only compete against other Division I Anthropology projects.
- If a classification is questioned, a final determination will be made by the school or state fair coordinator.
- Each project must be submitted as a prerecorded video presentation.
- Video presentations may not exceed 5 minutes in length.
- Acceptable submission formats are limited to recorded video or a PowerPoint presentation with recorded voice over.
- Videos must be submitted in an approved file format. Approved formats will be posted to the fair website.
- Video files may not exceed the prescribed file size limit. Information on file size limits will be posted to the fair website.
- A project may be disqualified if the submitted presentation file is corrupted and can not be opened for judging.
- While an adult may assist the student with production of a video or PowerPoint presentation, assistance must be limited to general technical support (holding a camera, providing guidance on editing, etc.). All other work must be completed by the participating student.
- Each project must have a written abstract in the approved format (see abstract template). The abstract must be submitted with the presentation video file.
- Abstracts may be handwritten or typed.
- Points may be deducted for grammatical and spelling errors.
- The abstract must include a complete bibliography in either APA or MLA format.
- Each project at the state level competition will be reviewed and scored by judges during the prescribed judging period.
- First, second, and third place awards may be given to the three highest scoring projects in each Division/Category that meet minimum score requirements. A project must score a minimum of 90 out of 100 points to be identified as a first place winner, 80 or above to be identified as a second place winner, and 70 or above to be identified as a third place winner. Because of the minimum score requirements, it is possible for a category to have no winning projects.
- Honorable mention awards are granted upon the judges’ recommendation and are not dependent upon the score. An honorable mention award is not considered a fourth place award. Judges are not required to award an honorable mention.
- Ties for first, second or third place awards are not permitted at the school, county, regional or state level.
- Projects that win first place at the state level will not be eligible to compete in school, county, regional or state fairs in subsequent years.
- Student copies of score cards will be provided to school fair coordinators ONLY. State fair officials will not release score cards directly to students or parents.
- Due to potential conflicts, immediate relatives (parents, grandparents, siblings, guardians, etc.) of fair participants are not eligible to serve as judges. Failure to disclose such a conflict to fair officials may result in disqualification of the project and may disqualify the judge from participating in future events.
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The following items are prohibited at all levels of competition (school and state) and may not be used in the development or presentation of a project:
- Live animals;
- Flames, highly flammable materials, or sources of heat (hot plates, etc.);
- Dry ice;
- Weapons and ammunition (including toys and replicas);
- Sharp items (for example, syringes, needles, knives);
- Tobacco products;
- All hazardous substances or devices (for example—chemicals, poisons, and drugs);
- Batteries with open-top cells (for example—car and motorcycle batteries);
- Any item prohibited by county or WV Board of Education Policies; and
- Any item that the fair coordinator deems unsafe or inappropriate for student use.