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Definitely not the subject matter here in East Texas -- once professional scientists were employed as judges.

They worked in groups of three, and I heard judges from the first group go and tell others,

"You guys have to go interview the little blonde with the AGW project. She'll knock your socks off!"

It was a hoot, watching them ask her a question, and then stand back and grin, while she grabbed her pointer, and cut loose. '-)

I got so tickled, I had to go out in the hall and laugh.

Soon, one of the judges came rushing out into the hall, exploded with laughter, and leaned into the opposite wall -- totally cracked up. When he finally caught his breath, he said,

"I asked that little girl where the data plots on her display came from, and she said,"

"I took that data at 7:30 every evening for months with our remote thermometer. My granddad set up the spreadsheet, and I entered the data every night. "
"Then he entered the numbers from the "Fudge Factor" subroutine from Kent Briffa's British model -- and it turned my perfectly honest data into Global Warming!!!"
"When she stamped her foot and whacked the chart with her pointer, I lost it, and had to escape out here! Boy, would I love to sic that little cutie onto Al Gore!!" She'd eat him alive!!!

And, then, he cracked up with laughter again...

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Also, while the contestants were at lunch, a bunch of USAF colonels and majors toured the exhibits. As the climax of the awards session, they presented my granddaughter with the "USAF AWARD for the best project of the competition"... (Nice plaque, plus lots of goodies like USAF-logo backpack, tote bags, "leather" folder, etc...)

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So, no, I'd say it was age/grade. The system simply couldn't figure out how to handle an Elementary School top winner in the Middle School Science Fair competition...

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That wasn't the case in an Area competition, where they used college "science" students as "judges". I heard one group say, as they passed her project, "Da*n Denier!" -- and they didn't even stop to look at it...

If that is the crap that schools are turning out as "scientists", now, no wonder, they believe that "consensus" has a place in science.

TXnMA -- retired physcal chemist...