While I don&#x27;t agree that &quot;the &#x27;privilege&#x27; narrative is overplayed,&quot; you&#x27;re right to point out that this article started with the barrier of a form that then magically evaporated midway through the article. Presumably they signed it, otherwise the child wouldn&#x27;t have been able to compete in the fair. So the argument of privilege kind of falls apart with respect to the form.<p>But the argument that the kids with the most connections to real labs and real scientists win, is pretty solid. That totally jives with my experience judging regional science fairs. The top kid in each division was inevitably a professor&#x27;s kid that did the experiments in the university lab. (e.g. &quot;I then used the gas chromatograph...&quot;)