California State Science Fair
Application Forms 2013

Application Packet

The Official Student Application Packet is available only in this online format. Affiliated county and multi-county regional fairs have not been supplied with printed Application Packets. Please download a copy of the complete Application Packet here:

Complete Application Packet: (2013)

Download Me First! (493,962 bytes)
Seriously. Download it first. In the Application Packet you will find the answers to most of your questions, if not all of them.

If you are only looking for one particular part of the Application, you may find it in our section on Information for Student Participants.

Certification Forms

If your project uses human subjects, vertebrate animals, or potentially hazardous biological agents, you will need to complete a certification form. You have two choices:

1. Most students will submit the CSSF Safety/Certification form found in the Application Packet above. This is a simple form requiring signatures only by you and your project advisor.
2. However, recognizing that some Senior Division projects will have already completed the relevant ISEF forms, CSSF will accept them as well. If you submit ISEF forms, do not send originals – send copies only. Keep your original forms at your display in your Project Notebook. The only ISEF forms that are of concern here are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5 (A or B), 6A, and 6B. None of the other ISEF forms are relevant to any CSSF purpose.

It is entirely your choice which form you submit. For CSSF purposes there is no distinction.

Professional Research Environment

This section applies only if your project was performed partially or entirely within a professional research environment such as a university, national government lab, or a laboratory in private industry. If this describes your project, you are required by Display Regulation #8 to have a letter from an institutional representative explaining what portion of the project was uniquely due to your efforts. Intel ISEF Form 1C is an acceptable substitute.

This letter (or Form 1C) must be available for the judges to inspect at the project display. Further, a copy of this letter (or Form 1C) must be delivered to CSSF before you will be allowed to register and set up your project display. We recommend including this copy in the same mailing as your Signature Card and Application Fee. If this is not possible, send your Signature Card and Application Fee immediately and then send the letter (or Form 1C) as soon as possible.

Application Process

Here is the Application. Don't proceed until you've downloaded and read through the Application Packet labeled "Download Me First!" above.

Please note that after completing the online application, you will still submit a Signature Card, App Fee payment, and possibly other documents described above through the US Mail. By filing electronically, your information will be entered into the Fair's database exactly as you type it. Further, your Project Summary will later be published on this Web site so that your judges can read it here in advance of the judging – not to mention your friends, parents, grandparents, ....

See also our Frequently Asked Questions on Electronic Application.