ISEF Categories: Same Odds, Different Special Awards

Q: Which ISEF category is easiest to win?

None. In 2021 to 2026 grand-award rates in the 24 categories ran from 26.1% to 29.5%, effectively identical, because grand awards are allocated in proportion to entries.

Q: Which categories have the most special awards?

Software Design (68.9%), Mathematics (49.2%), Systems Software (31.4%), Chemistry (29.8%), Embedded Systems (29.4%) and Robotics and Intelligent Machines (29.0%). The fewest: Plant Sciences (7.2%).

Q: Which categories draw the most international entries?

Those with the lowest US share: Mathematics 51.2%, Systems Software 52.4%, Chemistry 52.7%, Embedded Systems 55.6%, Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design 55.7%, Software Design 55.7%. Cellular and Molecular Biology (82.2%) and Microbiology (80.2%) are mostly US.

Q: Where should a strong coder enter?

The data favour coding applied to another field's problem. In Earth and Environmental Sciences, Behavioral and Social Sciences, Animal Sciences, Computational Biology and Biomedical Engineering, AI projects won 15 to 34 points more often than non-AI projects. In Systems Software, Korean entries won one grand award in 24.

Q: Have the categories changed over time?

Yes. 2014 used 17 categories including Computer Science; from 2015 the 22-category scheme with Systems Software, Embedded Systems and Robotics applied. This page uses the 2021 to 2026 scheme.

Grand awards are allocated per category in proportion to entries, so about the top 27% win in every category. In 2021 to 2026 the lowest was Biochemistry at 26.1% and the highest Technology Enhances the Arts at 29.5%, a difference with no statistical weight. The category decides the second chance instead: Software Design 68.9%, Mathematics 49.2%, Systems Software 31.4%, Chemistry 29.8%, Embedded Systems 29.4% and Robotics 29.0% of projects win a special award, against 7.2% in Plant Sciences, 12.5% in Microbiology and 12.6% in Biomedical and Health Sciences.

All 24 categories at a glance (2021 to 2026)

The bracket after the grand-award rate is the 95% confidence interval. Team share, AI mention, hardware mention and US share describe the character of each category. Categories with a low US share (Mathematics 51%, Systems Software 52%, Chemistry 53%) are where international delegations concentrate.

Grand-award rate by category (2021 to 2026)

All categories 27.1% (red dashed line)

Technology Enhances the Arts29.5%
Software Design27.9%
Engineering Mechanics27.8%
Chemistry27.7%
Robotics and Intelligent Machines27.5%
Physics and Astronomy27.5%
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics27.4%
Embedded Systems27.4%
Materials Science27.3%
Systems Software27.3%
Earth and Environmental Sciences27.1%
Biomedical Engineering27.1%
Biomedical and Health Sciences27.1%
Translational Medical Science27.0%
Environmental Engineering26.9%
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design26.9%
Animal Sciences26.7%
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics26.7%
Behavioral and Social Sciences26.6%
Plant Sciences26.6%
Cellular and Molecular Biology26.5%
Microbiology26.4%
Mathematics26.4%
Biochemistry26.1%

Thin lines mark the 95% confidence interval; smaller samples give longer lines.

Special-award rate by category (2021 to 2026)

Software Design68.9%
Mathematics49.2%
Systems Software31.4%
Chemistry29.8%
Embedded Systems29.4%
Robotics and Intelligent Machines29.0%
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design23.4%
Behavioral and Social Sciences21.6%
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics21.1%
Engineering Mechanics20.3%
Biomedical Engineering20.2%
Environmental Engineering20.0%
Earth and Environmental Sciences19.4%
Materials Science17.9%
Cellular and Molecular Biology17.5%
Biochemistry17.0%
Animal Sciences15.3%
Physics and Astronomy14.6%
Translational Medical Science14.3%
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics12.9%
Biomedical and Health Sciences12.6%
Microbiology12.5%
Technology Enhances the Arts11.5%
Plant Sciences7.2%

Team-project share by category (2021 to 2026)

All projects 19.5% (red dashed line)

Software Design37.7%
Environmental Engineering30.4%
Engineering Mechanics27.8%
Embedded Systems24.6%
Technology Enhances the Arts24.6%
Chemistry23.2%
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design23.1%
Biomedical Engineering22.8%
Materials Science22.3%
Robotics and Intelligent Machines21.4%
Systems Software21.0%
Animal Sciences20.7%
Plant Sciences20.1%
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics19.0%
Biochemistry18.7%
Behavioral and Social Sciences18.2%
Earth and Environmental Sciences17.9%
Microbiology17.3%
Physics and Astronomy16.9%
Translational Medical Science16.1%
Biomedical and Health Sciences13.9%
Mathematics13.8%
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics12.1%
Cellular and Molecular Biology8.0%

Show the full table (24 rows)

ISEF categories: projects, grand and special award rates, team, AI, hardware and US shares, Korean entries and grand awards (2021 to 2026)
Category	Projects	Grand rate (95% CI)	Special-award rate	Team share	AI mention	Hardware mention	US share	Korean entries	Korean grand
Earth and Environmental Sciences	535	27.1% (95% CI 24 to 31)	19.4%	17.9%	18.3%	8.6%	75.3%	6	2
Biomedical Engineering	531	27.1% (95% CI 24 to 31)	20.2%	22.8%	29.2%	59.7%	65.5%	6	2
Environmental Engineering	520	26.9% (95% CI 23 to 31)	20.0%	30.4%	11.7%	32.3%	56.7%	13	1
Biomedical and Health Sciences	483	27.1% (95% CI 23 to 31)	12.6%	13.9%	9.9%	5.8%	78.9%	2	0
Translational Medical Science	467	27.0% (95% CI 23 to 31)	14.3%	16.1%	36.2%	12.4%	75.6%	4	2
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	464	27.4% (95% CI 24 to 32)	12.9%	12.1%	56.0%	4.7%	79.3%	3	0
Robotics and Intelligent Machines	462	27.5% (95% CI 24 to 32)	29.0%	21.4%	74.2%	50.9%	63.0%	10	2
Physics and Astronomy	444	27.5% (95% CI 24 to 32)	14.6%	16.9%	16.9%	16.9%	64.0%	15	2
Behavioral and Social Sciences	402	26.6% (95% CI 23 to 31)	21.6%	18.2%	21.6%	14.4%	69.7%	4	1
Chemistry	393	27.7% (95% CI 24 to 32)	29.8%	23.2%	5.9%	13.5%	52.7%	10	1
Materials Science	363	27.3% (95% CI 23 to 32)	17.9%	22.3%	4.1%	24.2%	58.7%	11	4
Animal Sciences	352	26.7% (95% CI 22 to 32)	15.3%	20.7%	8.8%	11.9%	74.1%	5	2
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics	337	26.7% (95% CI 22 to 32)	21.1%	19.0%	9.8%	62.9%	66.2%	5	1
Plant Sciences	334	26.6% (95% CI 22 to 32)	7.2%	20.1%	6.3%	7.8%	71.9%	2	0
Microbiology	329	26.4% (95% CI 22 to 31)	12.5%	17.3%	2.1%	4.3%	80.2%	6	2
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design	316	26.9% (95% CI 22 to 32)	23.4%	23.1%	4.7%	34.8%	55.7%	2	0
Cellular and Molecular Biology	275	26.5% (95% CI 22 to 32)	17.5%	8.0%	2.2%	4.4%	82.2%	0	0
Systems Software	271	27.3% (95% CI 22 to 33)	31.4%	21.0%	49.8%	20.3%	52.4%	24	1
Embedded Systems	252	27.4% (95% CI 22 to 33)	29.4%	24.6%	33.7%	82.1%	55.6%	12	3
Mathematics	246	26.4% (95% CI 21 to 32)	49.2%	13.8%	8.5%	5.7%	51.2%	9	2
Biochemistry	230	26.1% (95% CI 21 to 32)	17.0%	18.7%	3.9%	9.6%	74.8%	1	0
Engineering Mechanics	79	27.8% (95% CI 19 to 39)	20.3%	27.8%	5.1%	55.7%	67.1%	2	0
Technology Enhances the Arts	61	29.5% (95% CI 20 to 42)	11.5%	24.6%	60.7%	36.1%	57.4%	3	1
Software Design	61	27.9% (95% CI 18 to 40)	68.9%	37.7%	70.5%	21.3%	55.7%	5	0

Download table data (CSV): category_profiles.csv

How to read the table

Moving category to improve grand-award odds does not work. Every category is at 26 to 30%. Enter where the project naturally belongs; that is where the judges' expertise matches.
Range of grand-award rates (2021 to 2026)Lowest, Biochemistry26.1%Highest, Technology Enhances the Arts29.5%
Categories rich in special awards offer more second chances. The American Mathematical Society gave 91 awards in Mathematics over six years and Mu Alpha Theta 25; AAAI gave 40 in Software Design. The special award Korean projects have won most often is also AMS.
Special awards (2021 to 2026)AMS, Mathematics91AAAI, Software Design40Mu Alpha Theta, Mathematics25AMS awards to Korea6
Team-heavy categories overlap with categories where teams do not lose. Software Design 38%, Environmental Engineering 30%, Engineering Mechanics 28% and Embedded Systems 25% are team-heavy. Environmental Engineering is the exception: solo projects beat teams there by 13.2 points.
Team-project shareSoftware Design38%Environmental Engineering30%Engineering Mechanics28%Embedded Systems25%
Where AI is already above 50% (Robotics 74%, Software Design 71%, Technology Enhances the Arts 61%, Computational Biology 56%, Systems Software 50%), using AI is not a differentiator. Details on the AI page.
Share of projects mentioning AIRobotics74%Software Design71%Technology Enhances the Arts61%Computational Biology56%Systems Software50%
Korea's most common categories are not where Korea wins. Systems Software, Korea's largest category with 24 entries, produced one grand award; Materials Science (4 of 11), Embedded Systems (3 of 12) and Earth and Environmental Sciences (2 of 6) are at or above the world rate. See Korea at ISEF.
Korean grand awards per entries (2021 to 2026; bar = rate)Systems Software1 / 24Materials Science4 / 11Embedded Systems3 / 12Earth and Environmental Sciences2 / 6

Category ranking for a coding-strong student

The fit score combines how much more AI projects won than non-AI projects in that category (the AI lift), the special-award rate, the count of computing and mathematics special awards, and how few Korean entries there are. A higher score marks a category where coding used as an instrument on another field's problem has produced above-average results. Earth and Environmental Sciences shows the widest gap: 49.0% for AI projects versus 22.2% without.

Grand-award rate with and without an AI mention, by category

Grand rate with an AI mentionGrand rate without an AI mention

Animal Sciences58.1%23.7%
Earth and Environmental Sciences49.0%22.2%
Behavioral and Social Sciences43.7%21.9%
Technology Enhances the Arts37.8%16.7%
Plant Sciences42.9%25.6%
Biomedical Engineering38.1%22.6%
Physics and Astronomy40.0%24.9%
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics33.8%19.1%
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics39.4%25.3%
Mathematics38.1%25.3%
Systems Software33.3%21.3%
Biomedical and Health Sciences35.4%26.2%
Translational Medical Science30.8%24.8%
Chemistry30.4%27.6%
Robotics and Intelligent Machines28.0%26.1%
Embedded Systems28.2%26.9%
Environmental Engineering27.9%26.8%

Show the full table (24 rows)

Category ranking for coding and AI-strong students (2021 to 2026): grand rates with and without AI, special-award rate, Korean entries
Category	Projects	AI mention	Grand (AI)	Grand (non-AI)	Lift (pts)	Special-award rate	Computing/math special awards	Korean entries	Fit score
Earth and Environmental Sciences	535	18.3%	49.0%	22.2%	+27	19.4%	12	6	0.63
Behavioral and Social Sciences	402	21.6%	43.7%	21.9%	+22	21.6%	6	4	0.61
Animal Sciences	352	8.8%	58.1%	23.7%	+34	15.3%	4	5	0.59
Technology Enhances the Arts	61	60.7%	37.8%	16.7%	+21	11.5%	1	3	0.56
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics	464	56.0%	33.8%	19.1%	+15	12.9%	27	3	0.55
Biomedical Engineering	531	29.2%	38.1%	22.6%	+15	20.2%	13	6	0.52
Mathematics	246	8.5%	38.1%	25.3%	+13	49.2%	105	9	0.5
Plant Sciences	334	6.3%	42.9%	25.6%	+17	7.2%	2	2	0.47
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics	337	9.8%	39.4%	25.3%	+14	21.1%	10	5	0.46
Robotics and Intelligent Machines	462	74.2%	28.0%	26.1%	+2	29.0%	59	10	0.44
Physics and Astronomy	444	16.9%	40.0%	24.9%	+15	14.6%	11	15	0.43
Software Design	61	70.5%	30.2%	-	-	68.9%	43	5	0.42
Systems Software	271	49.8%	33.3%	21.3%	+12	31.4%	49	24	0.4
Biomedical and Health Sciences	483	9.9%	35.4%	26.2%	+9	12.6%	9	2	0.39
Translational Medical Science	467	36.2%	30.8%	24.8%	+6	14.3%	14	4	0.39
Chemistry	393	5.9%	30.4%	27.6%	+3	29.8%	7	10	0.31
Embedded Systems	252	33.7%	28.2%	26.9%	+1	29.4%	30	12	0.3
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design	316	4.7%	-	26.2%	-	23.4%	3	2	0.28
Cellular and Molecular Biology	275	2.2%	-	25.7%	-	17.5%	3	0	0.27
Biochemistry	230	3.9%	-	24.9%	-	17.0%	1	1	0.26
Environmental Engineering	520	11.7%	27.9%	26.8%	+1	20.0%	8	13	0.26
Engineering Mechanics	79	5.1%	-	26.7%	-	20.3%	2	2	0.23
Materials Science	363	4.1%	-	26.1%	-	17.9%	6	11	0.21
Microbiology	329	2.1%	-	25.8%	-	12.5%	3	6	0.21

A dash marks a cell with fewer than 20 projects to compare. The fit score is a relative index from 0 to 1, not a probability.

Download table data (CSV): cs_fit_ranking.csv

Frequently asked questions

Which ISEF category is easiest to win?

Which categories have the most special awards?

Which categories draw the most international entries?

Where should a strong coder enter?

Have the categories changed over time?

Data and method

Two public sources. From the Society for Science abstract database (abstracts.societyforscience.org) we compiled every ISEF finalist project from 2014 to 2026: 17,565 projects with title, category, fair country, awards and full abstract. From the isef.net project library we took the award-tier flags for the 8,134 ISEF projects of 2021 to 2026 and joined them to the abstracts by year and booth id. Compiled on 2026-10-11.

A grand award means a First to Fourth Award or Best of Category, roughly the top 27% of each category. A special award is given by a sponsoring organization with its own judges. ISEF 2020 was held without judging and is excluded from every rate. The abstract database carries no 2025 awards and misses most Materials Science grand awards after 2017, so award flags for 2021 to 2026 combine both sources. An AI mention means the title or abstract contains a machine-learning term; it does not mean the project is about AI. All numbers are correlations, and Korean per-category figures rest on 2 to 24 projects, so read them as direction rather than precision.

Sources

The figures on this page are category-level base rates compiled from public ISEF results. They do not predict or promise any student's award, selection or admission. CIT does not guarantee awards, selection or admission.

ISEF data series

ISEF statistics hubAll 17,565 projects, headline numbers and the series Choosing a category24 categories: grand, special, team and AI shares Solo vs teamSolo 28.1%, pairs 21.4%, trios 26.0%, and where it differs AI projectsAI share over time, subtype odds, inside vs outside computing Topic trends70 topics: share change, odds, Korean entries Winning abstractsTitle patterns, feature lifts, winner vocabulary Korea at ISEFResults by year, qualifying routes, category mix, winner traits Special awards map40 sponsors by category, Korea's awards Returning and multi-yearReturning 37.8% vs first-time 22.4%Judging criteriaOfficial 100 points mapped to abstract data By countryWhat Singapore, Canada and Thailand enter; US state rates

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ISEF Categories: the grand-award odds are the same everywhere, the special awards are not

At a glance

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