JUDGING
Judging & awards
Open registration, no cap. 3–5 finalist teams per track in each age group present live. Every valid submission receives a certificate.
The five criteria
| Criterion | Weight | What judges ask | What a 3 looks like | What a 5 looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creativity | 30% | Does the idea show your own observation, choices or a new way of expressing something? | A clear idea with at least one choice that is truly yours, not just the first thing the AI gave you. | A fresh angle judges haven't seen, and you can show where it came from. |
| Understanding & independent work | 25% | Can you explain your work, what the AI does and the key decisions you made? | Every member can explain what they made, what the AI does and one key decision. | You can explain why the AI behaves the way it does, including its mistakes, and the log clearly shows the students made the decisions. |
| Completeness | 20% | Does it meet your age group's requirements, can you demo it, and did you test it? | Every Minimum to qualify item is done, and the demo works. (If any item is missing, this can't go above 2.) | All of that, plus testing beyond the minimum, with clear, checkable results. |
| Communication & teamwork | 20% | Is it clearly explained, and is the work sensibly shared? | Intro and talk cover the idea, the demo, the AI's job, the tests and the limits. Solo teams: well organised. | Clear and engaging for a non-expert. Every member contributes. Answers are specific. |
| Responsible AI use | 5% | Are sources and help clearly disclosed? Did you respect privacy and the limits of the tools? | Every tool, source and helper is credited, and the privacy rules are followed. | You spotted a real risk (bias, privacy, wrong answers), did something about it and can explain what. |
Each criterion is scored 0–5: 3 means your project meets your age group’s requirements, 4 is clear and thorough, 5 has a clear highlight judges can check, and 0–2 means parts are missing. Each criterion’s score = raw score ÷ 5 × weight, so the total is out of 100. Example: raw scores 4, 4, 3, 4, 3 become 24 + 20 + 12 + 16 + 3 = 75. Lines of code, device cost, number of tools, paid plans, project size, hours spent, polished English, accent and language choice don’t earn or lose marks.
How it works
1. Online screening (Sun 10 – Tue 12 Jan).
We first check eligibility and format, then at least two reviewers score every valid submission independently on the five criteria; Understanding and Communication & teamwork are judged from your intro and process log. The Boss Check is where reviewers start reading; it isn't extra credit. If two reviewers' totals differ by 20 points or more, a third reviewer scores it too, and we average all the reviewers' scores. The optional Reach Bonus (below) is added after that, by a separate team; reviewers never see it. Screening scores and rankings aren't published or shared with families.
2. Finalists (Wed 13 Jan).
In each age group, 3–5 finalist teams per track are chosen, and the academic committee signs off the list. Every team hears by email at 09:00 SGT on Wed 13 Jan.
3. Finals Day (Sat 16 Jan).
Three judges score each finalist team independently, starting fresh rather than carrying over screening scores, and we average their scores. If judges' scores differ a lot, we re-check the facts, but we never replace independent scores with a group discussion. Questions are friendly and focus on what you did and why.
4. Showcase & Awards Day (Sun 17 Jan).
Awards for every age group are presented. Ties are decided by Understanding & independent work, then Creativity, then a review by an independent judge using the same criteria.
OPTIONAL
Reach Bonus
Building with AI includes getting people to see what you made. If you share your build publicly, your post can earn a small bonus in the online screening. It's optional: nobody has to post, and teams that don't post are judged exactly the same on the five criteria.
TOP 5 POSTS IN EACH AGE GROUP · SCREENING POINTS
- +51st
- +42nd
- +33rd
- +24th
- +15th
- What counts: a public post on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, Xiaohongshu, Facebook or LinkedIn that carries both #YAISG and your team's own tag (like #YourTeamName), posted after you register and no later than Sat 9 Jan 2027, 23:59 SGT. Keep it public until the count.
- Who can post: a team member aged 13 or over, a parent, your school or CCA, friends, or anyone else who wants to share your project. Under-13s don't post from their own accounts: a parent or the school posts for them.
- How it's counted: at Sun 10 Jan 2027, 12:00 SGT, we take the like count of each team's single best post. Only one post per team counts. Likes are compared as each platform shows them, and if two posts have the same number, the one posted earlier goes first.
- The bonus: in each age group, the five teams whose posts have the most likes get +5, +4, +3, +2 and +1 points on their screening score, which is out of 100. Teams are only compared with teams in their own age group.
- How to claim it: add your post's link and a screenshot of its likes in the submission form. Our team checks every claim. Screening reviewers don't see the bonus, so their scores stay independent.
- Fair play: buying likes, bots, like-for-like groups and paid promotion aren't allowed. If we find any, the team loses the bonus, and the academic committee decides whether anything more applies. We may ask to see the post's statistics.
- Keep it safe: no faces of under-13s without a parent's OK; no school names, full names or locations; nobody filmed without their OK. Posts that break these rules don't count, and we may ask for them to be taken down.
- What it doesn't change: the bonus only counts in the online screening. Finals Day judging starts fresh, the bonus has no award of its own, and we don't publish who received it. Community Choice and YAI Ambassador work as before.
- If your post isn't counted: we'll email you by 18:00 SGT on Sun 10 Jan with the reason. You can ask us to look again until 18:00 SGT on Mon 11 Jan; someone who didn't check it the first time replies by 12:00 SGT on Tue 12 Jan, and that decision is final.
Judges
Each age group has three judges, from education, AI technology and creative fields. If an age group needs a second judging zone, each zone keeps the same mix. At most one judge per age group may come from a partner organisation; the rest are independent. Judges step aside from teams that include relatives, teams they have coached, or any other direct interest. Bilingual judges support presentations in Chinese. Judges are listed here from Fri 18 Dec, and added as they confirm. Screening reviewers come from our academic committee, our judges, and vetted teachers and industry reviewers; they follow the same code of conduct and step aside from teams they know. Finals judges don’t screen entries from the age group they judge live, and a partner representative never reviews an entry alone.
Awards
| Finalist teams in the age group | Places |
|---|---|
| 5 or more | Champion, 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up |
| 3–4 | Champion only |
| 1–2 | Teams present, without ranked places |
Prizes: Trophies and cash prizes; amounts announced once funded.
Awards are given to finalist teams within each age group across all four tracks, up to nine places in total. There are no track awards and no overall champion. Awards may be left unfilled if there’s a serious breach of the rules or no project meets the minimum requirements; we record the reason. Prize money is paid per team within 30 days of the event (by Tue 16 Feb): each winning team names one person to receive it (a parent receives it for a minor), and the team agrees how to share it. We collect payment details only from winning teams, after the event.
Community Choice and YAI Ambassador
Community Choice is voted in the room on Showcase & Awards Day (Sun 17 Jan) by checked-in participants, one vote per project: one award per age group, for a team’s project, not a person. YAI Ambassador recognition thanks students aged 13+ who shared YAI with friends. Neither affects judging, finalist selection or the judged awards, and neither includes cash. Community Choice rules are on the Demo Weekend page; YAI Ambassador rules are published by Fri 30 Oct.
Certificates
Every valid submission receives a certificate: each team member gets a participation e-certificate on Fri 22 Jan, whether or not they come to Demo Weekend. Finalists also receive a finalist certificate, and winners an award certificate; printed copies are handed out at Demo Weekend, and e-copies follow on Fri 22 Jan. Certificates show the display name you confirmed at registration. They record taking part, reaching the finals or winning an award. They are not an official qualification, and YAI doesn’t promise any school or university admission, scholarship, or place in another programme or competition.
About feedback
We don’t provide individual or team feedback reports, and screening scores and rankings aren’t shared. All criteria are published here so you can check your own work, and for finalists, the judges’ questions on the day are part of the experience.
Appeals
Appeals can cover eligibility, scoring errors, conflicts of interest or how a rule was applied. Disagreeing with a judge's opinion is not grounds for an appeal. Screening appeals: by Thu 14 Jan, 12:00 SGT, to hello@ (address to be confirmed). Someone who didn't review your project checks it and replies the same day, by Fri 15 Jan, 12:00 SGT at the latest. If an appeal is upheld, the team is added as a finalist and no one else loses their place. Result appeals: within two working days after the awards (by Tue 19 Jan, 23:59 SGT). Someone not involved in the original decision reviews it, and we reply by Fri 22 Jan.
Judge or review for YAI
We’re looking for judges from education, AI technology and creative fields, and screening reviewers who are comfortable reading student projects online.
- Live judges: a calibration call on Wed 13 Jan, 20:00 SGT; reading your zone’s finalist projects from 13 to 15 Jan; a full day of judging on Sat 16 Jan; and, if you’d like, presenting awards on the afternoon of Sun 17 Jan.
- Screening reviewers: a calibration call on Thu 7 Jan, 20:00 SGT, then 2–4 hours of online scoring between Sun 10 and Tue 12 Jan.
Everyone signs our code of conduct, declares any connection to a team and steps aside from teams they know. Judges never contact students privately.
Tell us about yourself: email partners@ (address to be confirmed) with “Judging” in the subject line.