2026 Registration has closed. We're working on posting regional assignments.
NJ Science Olympiad Registration Procedures
Adopted September 13, 2025
To increase the efficiency of the registration process and ensure maximum fairness to all participating teams given the limitations of our tournament capacity, the Steering Committee of the NJ Science Olympiad (“NJSO”) has adopted the following registrations procedures for the 2026 tournament season. Please CAREFULLY read the procedures below, which supersede all past registration procedures. If you have any questions, please contact registration@njscienceolympiad.org.
Preferred Payment Methods for 2026
Processing payments is one of the most labor intensive parts of our "back office" processes. We are asking that, if possible, you adjust your method of payment to help reduce our administrative workload, allowing us to spend more time on organizing the best possible events.
Most preferred form of payment: Paper or Electronic Check - Checks take the smallest amount of time for us to process and involve no additional fees for our organization.
Second preferred form of payment: Credit Card - We accept payment via credit card. This method takes a bit more labor than checks, but most importantly, involves fees that we pay to process the credit card payment. If you can't pay by check, this method is preferred. To pay by credit card, please contact registration@njscienceolympiad.org for an invoice you can pay online.
Least preferred form of payment: Purchase Order - We understand that at some schools and districts, purchase orders are the only option and we will continue to accept them, but it is our least preferred method of payment. Purchase orders require a lot of labor and postage to process.
OUR MAILING ADDRESS HAS CHANGED!
Please ensure that your business office uses our current address.
None of our past addresses are in service. Using them may delay your registration.
- The registration period for the 2026 NJSO tournament season will open on Friday September 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM EDT and will close on Friday November 7, 2025 at 6:00 PM EDT. Registration requests outside of this window will not be accepted for any reason.
- The registration process has two steps: (1) online registration, and (2) guarantee of payment. Teams which fail to complete BOTH steps of the registration process, as outlined below, by November 7, 2025 will not be registered for the season and will be ineligible to compete in any NJSO tournaments during the 2026 tournament season. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
- Step 1: Online Registration:
- To register, each head coach must go the NJSO website and follow the links to the online registration form. The registration form will require the coach to acknowledge having read and understood these registration procedures as a prerequisite for submitting the registration.
- Registration submissions using the online form are time-stamped by the software program.
- The online registration form will require coaches to select their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice preferences for regional tournaments.
- If there are any problems with your registration information, NJSO will contact the head coach via e-mail to clarify any required information.
- Within a few days of completion of the online registration, a confirmation e-mail will be sent to the head coach to confirm registration along with an invoice for the registration fee.
Registration is not completed until guarantee of payment is received as indicated below
- Step 2: Guarantee of Payment
- Once the online registration form has been submitted, it is the responsibility of the team’s head coach to ensure that payment or guarantee of payment is received by NJSO by the November 7, 2025 deadline. If you cannot meet this deadline, please contact registration@njscienceolympiad.org. All payments or guarantees of payment must be mailed to:
New Jersey Science Olympiad
PO Box 5003
North Branch, NJ 08876-1301
THIS IS A NEW ADDRESS. PLEASE ENSURE YOUR BUSINESS OFFICE UPDATES THEIR RECORDS.
All payments must be made payable to New Jersey Science Olympiad
- NJSO accepts the following as guarantee of payment: Credit Card, Check, money order, or purchase order from a school.
- The 2026 registration fee is $300.00 for a school’s team in each division. If a school has teams in both divisions, the fee is $600.00 total.
- It is the head coach’s responsibility to determine what is needed by the school/district office to ensure payment or guarantee of payment is received by the November 7, 2025 deadline. No team will be excused from the deadline to guarantee of payment because of delays in the processing by school/district offices.
- Some school districts and accounting offices required a NJ Business Registration Certificate and/or a W-9 form filled out by NJSO. NJSO is providing both of those forms here:
* NJ Business Registration Certificate
* W-9 Form
It is the head coach's responsibility to determine whether their school requires such documentation and to ensure that the district accounting office receives these documents in a timely manner. Requests to NJSO for this documentation will be forwarded this link, so coaches should download these documents as a time saving precaution.
- NJSO will send weekly e-mail reminders to all head coaches of teams for which guarantee of payment has not been received starting on Monday, October 20, 2025.
- Refunds will not be issued for any reason not specifically specified in these procedures.
- Any team that registers online but fails to submit guarantee of payment as indicated herein will be dropped from the registration system and will be ineligible to participate in any NJSO tournaments for the 2026 tournament season.
- A returned check will result in a removal from the registration system for this year and all costs incurred by New Jersey Science Olympiad, including bank fees and other costs, must be paid by the school by May 1, 2026 if the school wishes to register for NJSO in a subsequent season.
- Placements at regional tournaments will not be confirmed for any team until registration has completed. Thus, coaches should be preparing their teams for competition at all regional tournaments.
- Registration status of all teams will be posted to this web site so you may monitor the status of your registration.
- Capacity is capped at 40 teams per regional tournament and no more than 23 teams in a single division at any regional for a total of 120 teams statewide. The first 120 schools completing online registration and guarantee of payment by November 7, 2025 are guaranteed a placement at a regional tournament. Schools beyond the first 120 may not be able to be placed at a regional tournament.
- If more than 120 schools complete online registration and guarantee of payment, placement will be completed by order of submission of the online registration. Teams that are not able to be placed due to lack of capacity will be issued refunds of their full registration fee.
- Placements at regional tournaments will be made based upon earliest time-stamp for the online registration submission among teams who complete online registration and guarantee of payment prior to Friday November 7, 2025.
- Teams which have not competed in New Jersey Science Olympiad for the past three seasons will receive preference for regional tournament placement over returning teams.
- Regional placements for all teams will be released on the same date via this website on November 8, 2025. There will be no appeal process for regional tournament placement and registration fees will NOT be refunded due to regional tournament placement. Regional tournament events will also be posted on this date, if available.
- For schools attending Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament Only: We are required to collect an additional $75 National Science Olympiad registration fee for schools who will be taking more than one team to any specific Invitational Tournament. This fee is for the National Science Olympiad membership fee for your additional team(s) and is not retained by New Jersey Science Olympiad. Separate e-mail communications will be sent to Head Coaches to inquire about which schools are subject to this rule. Additional teams under this rule do count toward New Jersey's membership numbers toward eligibility for additional bids at National Science Olympiad.
Note: For Elementary Tournament Registration, please visit the Elementary Tournament Pages
