National Competition Judging Criteria

When submitting your poster you should give the name of the school, a contact name and email address and the names and ages of the learners who have contributed to its design and construction.

1. The message of the poster. Your poster should be:

i.    understandable without the need for extra information;
ii.   clearly and logically set out.

2. a) Poster where data are used. (Where you have collected your own data (primary) or you have used data someone else has collected (secondary)). On your poster:

i.    the problem being investigated should be clearly stated;
ii.   the data used should be appropriate for the investigation;
iii.  the sources of data should be stated;
iv.  the graphs/tables/statistics for displaying and summarising the data should be appropriate;
v.   every graph/table should add something to the investigation;
vi.  the graphs/tables should be properly headed and explained;
vii. there should be a clear conclusion.

OR

2.  b) Poster with information linked to censuses but no primary data are used (e.g. history of the census, family trees). (So these posters have a theme rather than answer a question or are a presentation of an investigation.) On your poster:

i.    the theme should be stated clearly;
ii.   the information should be linked to the theme;
iii.  the sources of information should be stated;
iv.  the purpose of each piece of information or picture should be clear;
v.   pictures/photographs/diagrams should be clearly labelled;
vi.  there should be a clear conclusion.

3. Presentation

i.     The poster should be readable from 2 metres (7 feet) away (for example minimum font size 18 in Arial);
ii.    There ought to be a good balance between graphs, diagrams, photographs, pictures and text;
iii.   The poster should look neat.

4.  Creativity/importance

i.     The theme of the poster should be original or imaginative;
ii.    The content of the poster should solve an interesting problem or answer a meaningful question in an investigative way;
iii.   The design should be creative and original;
iv.   The poster should be eye-catching.

For a downloadable PDF and Word version of the judging criteria please use the links below.

• 2011 CensusAtSchool National Competition Judging criteria (PDF)
• 2011 CensusAtSchool National Competition Judging criteria (Word)