Information

Dear Judges,

Judging for the 2026 Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair will take place in person at the Balboa Park Activity Center on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. You can support the Fair and the students by volunteering as a judge. After judging registration opens in January 2026, to register as a judge please click here to access zFairs. Tutorial videos will be provided to help you navigate through zFairs, where you will be able to view virtual previews of student projects. With your help as a judge, we will make the 2026 GSDSEF as successful as all the previous 71 Fairs!  

For 2026 we will continue with these categories and descriptions which were introduced in 2022. Each category name below is hyperlinked to a category-specific judging guide, for you to view or download. You can also view the Project Categories page for descriptions of each category.

• Animal Sciences

• Behavioral and Social Sciences

• Biochemistry

• Biomedical Health Sciences and Biomedical Engineering

• Cellular and Molecular Biology

• Chemistry

• Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

• Computer Science and Systems Software

• Earth and Environmental Sciences

• Engineering: Electrical, Mechanical, and Robotics

• Engineering: Energy, Materials, and Transport

• Mathematics

• Microbiology

• Physics and Astronomy

• Plant Sciences

• Product Testing

View or download additional judging resources below:

• GSDSEF Standards for Judging a Science Fair Project

• 20 Questions You Might Ask

• Comparing Projects

• Elements of a Science Fair Project

• Reward the Best Encourage the Rest

• Judges Rubric

Vickie Driver

Judging Coordinator

For more information, please contact: judging@gsdsef.org