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The Santa Barbara County Science & Engineering Fair is open to all students in 7th through 12th grade residing in Santa Barbara County or attending any public or private school in Santa Barbara County. Home-schooled students between ages of 12 and 18 are also welcome to participate. Students compete for over $4,000 in prizes and may qualify to advance to the California Science and Engineering Fair or the Broadcom MASTERS science and engineering competition.
Despite the COVID-19 shutdowns, we held a successful Fair on March 12. While the projects were submitted electronically, judging was unchanged with each student being indepenently interviewed (via video call) by at least three judges. The list of winners is available online.
The event was smaller; the number of junior high projects was down by about 85% compared to 2020. However, the high school participation rate was in line with past Fairs. We still awarded over $2,000 in prizes and have qualified 17 projects to participate in the California Science and Engineering Fair.
A few years ago, the Santa Barbara County Education Office produced a video describing the different ways to participate in the Fair. If you are considering competing or volunteering, this video may help answer your initial questions.
The 2022 Science and Engineering Fair will be held on March 10-11, 2022 in UC Santa Barbara's Corwin Pavilion. Watch this web site for more information (particularly regarding presentations and judging) as it becomes available.
As you prepare your projects, please pay attention to the requirements in the Student Handbook. The Student Handbook includes specific requirements for any projects using human or vertibrate animal subjects. Projects failing to follow these ethical regulations will not be accepted by the Fair.