The Contra Costa County Science & Engineering Fair (CCCSEF) is set for March 5-7, 2026 at Los Medanos College in Pittsburg. It is only open to students who attend school in Contra Costa County. Students must be in 7th-12th grades. 

We do not accept students who attend schools in other counties, states or countries. CCCSEF accepts mixed-county teams, provided that one team member attends school in Contra Costa County and the out-of-county team member(s) petition(s) their county fair director to participate as a mixed county team at the Contra Costa Science Fair.  

CCCSEF is a Regeneron ISEF-Affiliated Fair. Students may compete in only one Regeneron ISEF-Affiliated fair except when proceeding to a State/National fair also affiliated with the Regeneron ISEF from an affiliated fair. CCCSEF accepts mixed-county teams providing one member of the team attends school in Contra Costa County. However, all team members must reside and attend school in the greater Bay Area. No out-of-state students may be a member of a team.

As an ISEF-Affiliated fair, we follow the rules set forth by Regeneron ISEF. Those rules can be found at the ISEF website (click here). 

FAIR DATES: March 5-7, 2026
Thursday, March 5: Set-up project boards at Los Medanos College
Friday, March 6: Judge Project Board Review (morning). Judge interviews with students (afternoon).
Saturday, March 7: Awards ceremony (8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.)

Please follow steps 1 - 5 if you wish to participate in CCC Science & Engineering Fair 2026. If you have already selected a topic, you may begin with Step 2.

Deadlines

Abstracts are due AFTER you have completed your experiment, and before the fair begins (the first week in March). You may upload your abstract to your Google folder at anytime after experimentation but no later than March 1st. Need help writing an abstract? Click here.

DEADLINES:
December 31 , 2025
Deadline for receipt of all required project paperwork for pre-approval by the Scientific Review Committee (SRC.) Pre-approval is required for projects involving vertebrate animals, human subjects, recombinant DNA, tissue, pathogenic agents, or controlled substances. You must have advance approval of your project application from the SRC prior to experimentation. If in doubt, please submit the project research plan and required paperwork for the SRC review.

ALL other projects must be reviewed and approved by the SRC after experimentation and before competition at the Contra Costa Science Fair.

Projects conducted at a Regulated Research Institution, industrial setting or any work site other than home, school or field and which were reviewed and approved by the proper institutional board before experimentation, must also be approved by the Scientific Review Committee.

January 30, 2026

Deadline for all projects to compete in the 2026 Science & Engineering Fair.

Remember, abstracts are due AFTER you have completed your experiment, and before the fair begins (the first week in March). You may upload your abstract to your Google folder at anytime after experimentation but before March 5th. Need help writing an abstract? Click here.

Please contact Amy Kerns at communityoutreach@ba-leeds.org for questions about registration.