Recently, the winners of the 21st Soong Ching Ling Children's Invention Award Shanghai Regional Selection 2026 were announced.

The STEM STARideaLab students performed impressively in this competition, leading the pack with an absolute advantage.

Impressive record: every 5 winners

There is one from STEM STAR

In this year's Shanghai regional selection event, a total of 714 people were awarded in two major categories: invention works and artificial intelligence (programming).

STEM STARideaLab studentA total of 134 awards were won, accounting for 19% of the total number of award winners in the city -- This means that approximatelyNearly one out of every five municipal-level award winners comes from STEM STAR.

What is even more eye-catching is the performance of high-level awards:27 people won the first prize, accounting for 23.3% of the total number of first prize winners in the city ——AboutOne out of every four first-prize winners in the city is a STEM STAR student.

Song Qingling Children's Invention Award

The Soong Ching Ling Children's Invention Award, co-hosted by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation and the China Invention Association, is recognized by the Ministry of EducationThe national "White List Events", along with the "Youth Innovation Competition" and "Tomorrow's Little Scientists"It is also known as one of the "three top competitions" for youth science and technology contests.

The competition has been successfully held for 20 consecutive years, with over 1 million students from primary and secondary schools participating, boasting high prestige and recognition.

The prestige of the event

A national-level authoritative tournament with whitelist authentication

As a whitelisted event that has been screened and recognized by the Education Bureau, the Soong Ching Ling Children's Invention Award is characterized by its fairness, authority, and formality.

Winning awards in this competition can serve as effective evidence of innovative strength in students' comprehensive quality evaluation records, closely related to comprehensive evaluation, college special projects, and other enrollment channels. It can add luster to a child's resume and facilitate future development.

The event covers all provinces across the country, with the scale of participation expanding year by year.Taking the 20th edition as an example, over 46,000 works were submitted by more than 57,000 young people from both domestic and overseas, setting a new record.

Since the launch of this year's selection event in Shanghai,A total of 2,691 valid applications were receivedAmong them, there are 1,485 invention works, 734 artificial intelligence works, 59 creative projects, and 313 scientific and technological paintings.

Experts from universities, research institutes, and other relevant units are invited to form a jury. Through rigorous evaluation procedures such as preliminary review of materials and final defense, various award-winning projects will be selected.

Song Qingling Children's Invention Award

Event Time

Detailed competition situation in 2026

Representatives selected for the final evaluation in Shanghai:Children who have the opportunity to win the first or second prize need to undergo an offline presentation before the selection process.

Representatives selected for the final evaluation in Shanghai (recommended for nationwide recognition):Children have the opportunity to win the first or second prize, which will be determined after an offline presentation and evaluation. Their works may also have the chance to enter the national competition, where a national panel of judges will conduct another round of unified material review. If successful, further notice will be provided.

Compared to previous years, this year we have eliminated the direct announcement of some second prize winners, and children competing for first and second prizes are required to undergo offline oral defense. More emphasis is placed on the children's actual oral defense ability.

From the perspective of educational stages，The junior high school group has the most award-winning spots, followed by the primary school group, and finally the high school group.

Changes in the award-winning rate of Shanghai Songsai in the past 5 years

In terms of the number of valid declarations, there was a significant upward trend from 2022 to 2024. However, the annual number of valid declarations continued to decline from 2024 to 2026.

Although the number of valid declarations has declined in the past two yearsThe award-winning rate continues to decrease, which indirectly indicatesThe evaluation criteria have been further tightenedto ensure the high quality of the award-winning projects.

For participants, the continuous decline in the award-winning rate meansCompetition is becoming increasingly fierceWe need to continuously improve our ability to innovate and createQuality and innovativenessOnly then can one have the opportunity to win an award.

Taking Song Sai as an example, the award-winning rate this year has almost halved compared to two to three years ago. This shows that the difficulty of winning awards in future science and innovation competitions will be far greater than it was a few years ago.

What is the timing of the next session? How should it be planned?

In January and February of that year:Issue a notice, and each organizational unit shall select works

In March of that year:Submit works online

In April of that year:Organize preliminary evaluation

In May of that year:Provincial and municipal final evaluation, defense, and publicity

June to July of that year:National final evaluation and defense

In August of that year:National final evaluation and award ceremony

[For reference only]

Students planning to take the "San Gong" (a Chinese college entrance examination) or self-recruitment,Be sure to plan ahead according to the competition and award presentation schedule!