Santa Barbara County Science Fair

2008 Science Fair Information

2008 Results Available

The awards from the 2008 fair are now available. Follow the "Winners" link at the left to see all the winners. To see a list of all the projects in this year's fair, download a copy of the Program and Catalogue of Exhibits.

Date and Location

The 53rd Annual Santa Barbara County Science Fair will be held at the University of California Santa Barbara on Friday April 18, 2008 in Corwin Pavilion located at the University Center.

Project set-up will take place on the evening of Thursday, April 17. Friday, April 18 will be the main fair day, with students participating in judging and interactive activities during the day and the awards ceremony in the evening. All students, parents and friends are invited to the awards ceremony. Also, projects will be available for public viewing on Friday evening before and after the awards ceremony.

Information for Students

Applications will be accepted online from March 1 through April 9, 2008. There will be a required application fee of $15 per student (includes lunch the day of judging). Fees may be paid via Paypal with a credit card or PayPal account. Registration will not be considered complete and accepted until the fee has been received.

Project Guide for Students for the 2008 Fair
The Project Guide for Students contains important information about project requirements and display regulations, as well as a brief description of judging criteria. Judging criteria and project components are similar to the last two years, but very different from previous fairs. Please read this document! In particular, please note that an abstract is required for all students. Resources for how to write abstracts are included in the document.

Regulations regarding human subjects, tissue samples, and vertebrate animals are based on those used by the California State Science Fair. Further details can be found at CSSF Research Regulations.

Online Resources for Organizing and Presenting Your Data
Santa Barbara is home to the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), where scientists use existing information to address important issues in ecology. These scientists work with local students through the Kids Do Ecology program. Please visit the Kids Do Ecology website for useful information on data collection and processing, including graphing and statistics.

Information for Judges

No experience is necessary!

Medals Judges
Please register online between February 1 and April 10, 2008. Judges can volunteer for one of two time periods:

  • Morning Only (7:30 AM - 12 PM) for Medals Judging
  • All Day (7:30 AM - 4 PM) for Medals and Advanced Judging

Please be on time for check-in and orientation so we will have enough time to view the projects before the kids arrive.

Refreshments will be provided for all judges; lunch will be provided for those staying all day.

The judging procedure will be similar to last two years. Medal judges will use score sheets with defined criteria to evaluate each project on its own merit. Each student(s) will be interviewed by both members of a two-judge team separately to generate two scores. All projects achieving an adequate average score will receive a gold, silver, or bronze medal. Advanced judges will re-interview finalists, study the displays in depth, and collaborate to select best-in-division. Head judges will choose the Best in Fair with the guidance of the science fair committee. Best in Division winners plus 15 more projects will be chosen to go on to the California State Science Fair in May 2008.

Special Award Judges
Special award judging will be as in previous years. You may judge at anytime between 8 am and 4 pm. Results and award checks are due to the judges' table by 4 pm unless permitted by prior arrangement. You are encouraged to interview the students. All of them will be by their projects in the morning, and the finalists will return for the early afternoon.

While special awards each have their own criteria, special award judges are encouraged to look over the guide too, and consider the overall fair criteria.

Special Award administration: Unless you are also a regular judge, do not register as a judge on this website. Instead, contact Bob Hamber at bob_hamber@yahoo.com for all matters regarding special award judging.

Information for Teachers and Schools

Project entries from each school are limited to 5% of the 7-12th grade student body to a maximum of 40 projects. For example, a school with 200 students can submit 10 projects, while a school with 1000 students can only submit 40 projects. We will revise the number of allowed entries if applicants exceed the venue limit of 150. This has not occurred in the past decade.

Projects entered in the county science fair should be of sufficient quality to meet the project requirements outlined in the Guide for Students document.

2007 Fair Results

California State Science Fair Winners

We had 27 students represent SBCSF at the 2007 CSSF and they did great!

Category Awards
  • Connor Lynch - Honorable Mention, Junior Applied Mechanics & Structures
  • Rafael Zarate - Fourth Place, Junior Cognitive Science
  • Ken Farris - Fourth Place, Junior Earth & Planetary Sciences
  • Johnny Manzo - Honorable Mention, Junior Electronics & Electromagnetics
  • Nolan Poe - Fourth Place, Junior Mathematics & Software
  • Marina Plesons - Honorable Mention, Junior Microbiology
  • Esther Flores & Andrew Sanchez - Second Place, Senior Zoology

Special Awards

  • California Energy Commission Energy in Science Award – $250 awarded in recognition of projects of exceptional merit in the areas of energy and the environment. - Johnny Manzo
  • California Shore & Beach Preservation Association Award – $250 awarded to the best project in the Junior Division demonstrating an understanding or unique curiosity for coastal processes either physical or biological. - Johnny Manzo
  • Science Buddies Clever Scientist Award – $30 awarded to projects which best use innovative, low-cost experimental techniques to answer interesting scientific and engineering questions. - Annie Lesley

Pictures

Visit the following sites for pictures from the 2007 SBCSF:

Contact Information

Send general questions about the fair or this site to sbsciencefair@gmail.com.

Send questions regarding judging to sciencefairjudging@gmail.com.

Mailing address:
Santa Barbara County Science Fair
Attn: Registration
2118 Mountain Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA
93101