March 5th: Deadline to upload abstracts

Upload your project abstract to your Judging Folder by 11:59pm on March 5th. On March 6th, projects with no abstract will be withdrawn from the Championship. You must also upload Form 1C if you have an RRI project and Form 7 if you have a continuation project. No other forms belong in your Judging Folder. You will continue to have access to your Judging Folder to revise your abstract until March 8th, 11:59 PM.  Don’t use subfolders. Use PDF documents only and eliminate duplicates in other formats.

Students now have access to their Judging Folders. Check your email! Contact the Fair Administrators to request access if you can not access the folder via your Project Page; please include your project code. You may use the link on your Project Page and follow the newly posted Step 7 through Step 10 for instructions.  Links were sent to the email address you used when you registered. Deadline to upload your Abstract is March 5 at 11:59pm. Projects without abstracts will be withdrawn. We highly encourage students to upload their Abstracts (interactive PDF here) sooner rather than later.

Individual Judging Folders will be made available – via everyone’s individual Project Page – around Feb 25th. Then you may use the links on your Project Page and follow the newly posted Step 7 through Step 10 for instructions. Links will be sent to the address you used when you registered. 

Students may need to request Editor access to their Judging Folders in order to upload new or revised project materials after March 8th. Contact the Fair Administrators to request access; please include your project code.  

Every Judging Folder needs at least the Project Abstract, some projects require additional forms: 

• Project abstract (interactive PDF or Word document). Download, complete and save as a PDF. 
• Form 1C: Regulated Research Institutional / Industrial Setting Form. High School students with a professional mentor (RRI projects) must upload Form 1C, which is completed after the research is done.
• Form 7: Continuation Projects Form.

Judges are still needed in all fields on Fair Day, March 14. Parents and others are encouraged to register as a Category Judge before the March 1^st deadline. Parents are not assigned to judge their children’s or their friend’s projects. Judges must be present from Noon to 6 PM on March 14 at South Hall, San Jose Convention Center. Both returning and new judges must register here. Category Judges should have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or in education (with a concentration in a technical field). See the Category Judging page for details.

We are looking for scientists, computer scientists, engineers and others who enjoy talking to enthusiastic young people about scientific inquiry and engineering challenges. Questions? Email judging@science-fair.org.

Please request changes to your project title, field of study, etc. – or to withdraw from science fair – by midnight on Friday, February 23. Then the database will close, meta-information will be locked, and judging assignments will begin. 

• Check Project Status with the button on the home page. After February 23 any Incomplete project will become Not Qualified.
• Is the Field of Study accurate? and the category (RRI or non-RRI)? 
• Is the title correct, are student names spelled correctly, and is it listed by the correct teacher/sponsor name?
• If the project is Incomplete, upload whatever information has been requested to your Forms Folder. Inform the reviewer (or whoever made the request) by email with your project code in the subject line.
• If you need to withdraw or make changes, send email to Fair Manager, using the Fair Administration link on the SCVSEFA contact page.

Regeneron Science Talent Search has announced the 2024 Regeneron STS Scholars, who are the Top 300 entrants in this prestigious pre-college competition. 40 students from California have been honored, including 16 students from Santa Clara County schools and 8 students who competed in the 2023 Synopsys Championship. Congratulations to them and especially to Zeyneb N. Kaya from Saratoga High School and Michelle Wei from The Harker School, who are two of the 40 Finalists invited to Washington, D.C., in March to participate in final judging, display their work to the public, meet with notable scientists and compete for awards.

To see if your application is Accepted, please click Check Project Status on this page. Follow a link to the page for your teacher/sponsor. If your application is “Received,” it is waiting for review by the SRC. If it is “Incomplete,” it needs more information or additional form(s) and you will have received an email from the SRC reviewer. If you haven’t received an email about what’s missing, contact Fair Administration via the Contact page and include your 3-character Project Code and/or your 8-character Project Number. If you haven’t received a Project Number from the Fair Administration please make sure you have followed through with Step 5 (Pay & Submit) before reaching out to Fair Administration.

Project reviews are ongoing. Some of our SRC volunteers will take a break during the holidays, so response time to your questions may be a bit slower than usual. Thank you in advance for your patience.

• Newly-submitted applications will appear as “Received” at Check Project Status after the administrators check for all the required forms until the SRC starts a review.
• Projects that are “Pending” are in the hands of a reviewer.
• Projects which require SRC pre-approval must wait until they are “Accepted” before experimentation or data collection starts. 
• If your project status is “Incomplete,” you or your teacher/sponsor may have received email outlining what is missing or incorrect. Please respond to the email and we will answer as time permits between now and January 1.

Category Judge registration is now open for the 2024 Synopsys Championship Science & Engineering Fair on March 14, 2024! Category Judges must be present in person from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM in South Hall, San Jose Convention Center. Both returning and new judges must register here.

We need and welcome judges in all fields of study. We are looking for scientists, computer scientists, engineers and others who enjoy talking to enthusiastic young people about scientific inquiry and engineering challenges. Category Judges should have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a technical field or in education (with a concentration in a technical field). See the Category Judging page for details.

If your project needs pre-approval by the Scientific Review Committee, be sure to apply and PAY with all your Required Forms by 11:59pm on November 21st. (What’s most frequently missing? The research plan and/or your payment)

Pre-approval is required for projects that involve:

• humans (surveys, questionnaires, testing of engineering prototypes and apps)
• vertebrate animals (everything from fish to your pet dog, cat or goat),
• potentially hazardous biological agents (bacteria and fungi), rDNA, human or vertebrate animal tissue,
• hazardous chemicals, activities and devices

Pre-approval is also required for continuation projects that build on your earlier science fair project.

*Students may not culture bacteria and fungi (grow on agar plates or in flasks containing media) at home.

Pre-approval projects often need one or more Additional Forms. Check the ISEF Rules Wizard and watch for an email from your SRC reviewer about any missing form(s) or with questions about your project.  You may not start work (experimentation) until your project is approved.