The New Mexico Junior Academy of Science (NMJAS) promotes student research, participation in science fairs, and an annual written and oral technical paper competition. It is affiliated with the American Junior Academy of Science, an honor society that recognizes high school students for outstanding research.

Science education has focused primarily on the background and tools necessary to do scientific research, but there is little emphasis on writing about and orally presenting the results of research. The NMJAS Scientific Paper Competition was instituted as a means of aiding and encouraging young scientists in the written and oral communication of the results of their research. The NMJAS encourages students to participate in this competition, through which they have unique opportunities to learn a crucial part of scientific work: communicating their work to others.  

The competitions are held in conjunction with the Regional and State Science and Engineering Fairs. They are open to all middle and high school students – whether public, private, or home schooled – from across the state of New Mexico. Students can enter the competition even if they are not competing in the science fair, but they do have to report about original work.

Students compete in the Junior Division (grades 6-8) or the Senior Division (grades 9-12). There are cash prizes for up to the top four projects in both divisions at the regional and state levels. The amount of each award will depend on the number of entries. 

• Regional awards: up to 4 cash awards for each division each region
• State awards: up to 4 cash awards for each division

Winning papers at the state level have the option of being published in the New Mexico Journal of Science. They also qualify to attend the national meeting of the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS).