Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair
Welcome
Judges!
Thank you for volunteering to be a judge. Please familiarize yourself with the schedule and training modules in order for us to have a smooth and successful science fair. If you have any questions please contact the Director of Judging.
Jeremy Wall
Director of Judging
Tatyana Borovina
Asst. Director of Judging
Hemant Malhotra
Asst. Director of Judging
Interested in being a judge?
ACSEF 2026 Category Award Judge and Sponsored Award Judge registration is now open and we invite you to register.
JUDGING: Saturday March 14th, 2026
Location: Chabot College, Hayward
Times: 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
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Note: 4 PM is when judging stops and, after 4 PM, the judges go into deliberation meetings that run to 5:30 PM.
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Category Award Judges and Sponsored Awards Judges can both register using the Register button below. If you were asked by your organization or ACSEF to be a Sponsored Award Judge you must answer "Yes" to the question "Are you a Sponsored (Special) Award Judge for your organization" on the last page of registration.
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Qualifications for Judges:
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High School Projects: Judges must have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience or greater in the field they wish to judge
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Middle School Projects: Judges must have an Associate’s degree or 2 years towards a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience or greater in the field they wish to judge
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Exceptions to these are considered on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the judging team (judge.acsef@gmail.com) prior to registration
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Conflict of Interest:
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Please remember if you are a parent, teacher, relative, mentor, or are affiliated with any students participating in ACSEF, you cannot be a judge within their division (middle school or high school)
*To ensure the safety of all participants the ACSEF, Director of Judging is obligated to check the national sex offender’s registry on all judges participating in-person or during a virtual fair event​
Judging Details
Judging Training
​​​All judges must attend one training session prior to the Fair (virtual via Google Meet).
Sponsored/Special Awards Judge Training:
Tuesday March 3, 2026: 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
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Category Judging Training Dates:
Sunday March 8, 2026: 7 PM to 8 PM
Monday March 9, 2026: 7 PM to 8 PM
Wednesday March 11, 2026: 8 PM to 9 PM
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If you signed up to judge for ACSEF, you will receive an email from No Reply from zFairs with the link(s).​
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If you have any questions please email us at judge.acsef@gmail.com.
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We look forward to working with you!
Judging Format
Updated Judging Format
ACSEF 2026 will host a new format of judging for our upcoming fair. We will host a Round 1 judging session in the morning, following by Public Viewing hour afterwards before breaking for lunch. After lunch, we will host a Round 2 judging session, where our supergroups and special awards judges will meet with all students. There will be no dismissal of students after Round 2, so plan on a full day of presenting your hard work to our judges. For details on our new judging format, please see our Director of Judging, Jeremy Wall. ​
Thank you to all of our 2025 Judges
Behind the scenes our category and special award judges have volunteered their time preparing to interview each of our student participants by viewing the deliverable items consisting of an abstract, research plan, lab notebook excerpts and additional application forms.
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The 2025 judges hailed from various academic, medical, business and industrial sites throughout the Bay Area and nationwide!
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