A panel of judges from Discovery Education and its partner organizations, educators, and science professionals score qualifying entry videos and choose 10 finalists and up to 51 merit winners, one from each state and the District of Columbia, based on the following criteria: Students are required to address an everyday problem and articulate how the problem directly impacts them, their families, their communities, and/or the global population.
The ten finalists undergo a summer mentorship and in the fall travel to 3M's headquarters in Minnesota to participate in the Young Scientist Challenge Final Event.
They visit 3M labs, meet 3M scientists, and tour the 3M Innovation Center, and also participate in a series of other scored challenges to demonstrate their scientific knowledge and communication abilities.
Students completed an application that included several essays, which were then evaluated for communication abilities by DCYSC judges, who selected 400 semi-finalists and 40 finalists who received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the final competition.
[9] In 2020, 14-year-old Anika Chebrolu from Frisco, Texas won the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, due to her endeavor to identify the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2.
[10][11][12] In 2021, Sarah Park from Jacksonville, Florida won the Top Prize and the America's Top Young Scientist title by creating the Spark Care+,[13][14][15] a music therapy treatment device for mental health disorders that uses AI, galvanic skin response for sweat gland response, and photoplethysmography (PPG) for heart rate monitoring.