Judge Registration

2025 Northern / Central California Invention Convention

April 12th, 2025

Registration Instructions are available as a PDF as well as this page.

NOTE: If you are a registered judge and you are not able to fulfill your commitment, please notify us ASAP – contact us

What is Involved?

You will be assigned to a “judging circle” where you and 2 other judges will be judging 6 inventions from students in the same grade band (Grades K-2, 3,4,5,6-8,9-12).

(NEW THIS YEAR) APRIL 7th – This we are asking the judges to review their assigned inventions prior to the event. You will receive an email allowing online access to your projects. Please review (NOT SCORE) each invention. We estimate no more than 20 minutes time per invention.

APRIL 12th – At the actual event at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento on April 12th, you will meet with the inventors assigned to your judging circle then score each invention.

Judge Training

Judge Training will be on April 12th from 9-10 AM at the venue. All judges are expected to attend even if they have previously been a judge.

And take a look at the Judge Rubric to familiarize yourself with the scoring sheet.

Judging Schedule

April 7th-11th: Review assigned inventions online.

April 12th: The event will take place on April 12th at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Judges will be at the event from 8:30 AM – 1 PM

8:30 – Judges check in. Coffee & tea and continental breakfast will be available
9 AM – Presentation from our Executive Director includes information on how to use the scoring system as well as guidelines on evaluating the projects, scoring and providing feedback.
10 AM – Meeting with your assigned inventors in the judging circle on the convention floor
11 AM- – 1 PM – Review your evaluation with the other 2 judges in your judging circle, then each judge enters scores into online scoring system.
1 PM – Feel free to go back on the convention floor to visit the other inventions / inventors.

April 18th – Awards Ceremony – virtual. Details to come. Results will be posted online at California Invention Convention website week after the Awards Ceremony. inventors will receive your feedback by email the week after the Awards show.

Requirements of being of judge:

You are 18 or older.
You must be registered through our registration system.
You commit to reviewing the materials of your 6 assigned projects between April 7-April 11
You commit to attending the event on April 12
The main requirement is that you are interested in what these inventors have created and are willing to review the assigned invention materials, attend the event on April 12th and complete your scoring by 1 PM on April 12th
You have internet access device that you can bring to the event – required to use the online judging system.

Judge Registration Is Open February 5 – March 26

Go to ca.zfairs.com
Click on the Create Account tab and select Judge.
Follow the instructions. Detailed Instructions are below

Judge Registration – Detailed Instructions

VERY IMPORTANT!!! IF YOU HAVE ALREADY REGISTERED THIS YEAR AS A TEACHER, YOU HAVE TO MAKE A SMALL ADJUSTMENT WHEN REGISTERING AS A JUDGE. WHEN YOU ENTER YOUR USERNAME and NAME, THEY HAVE TO BE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR FIRST REGISTRATION. So if you registered as Username JSMITH and Name Judy Smith – you then register as a judge with a new Username and change your name to Judith or even add a digit such as Judy Smith1. The system will not allow you to register with the same Username and Name as you used for your teacher registration. You can use the same email.

Completing this registration will give us the necessary information to place you with a group of students for the judging event, and to send you any additional information you might need prior to the event.

If, after filling out this registration, you have additional questions feel free to contact us at www.cainventionconvention.org/contact/

Notes:

When your registration is complete, you will receive an email indicating you have successfully completed it.
You will also receive an email with logistics for the day of the event.
If you don’t complete the registration, we will send periodic email reminders. Registrations still incomplete on April 4th after 11PM will be considered ineligible.

STEP 1 – CREATING YOUR ACCOUNT:

Go to ca.zfairs.com
1. Select [Create Account] tab located in the upper left hand corner, then Select [JUDGE].
2. Create and enter your Username. Be sure to write this down as you will need it for online judging.
3. Enter your first and last name and email address. This will be the email address we will use for contact you and sending invention materials for review.
4. Click [Save and Continue]

STEP 2 – VERIFYING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

The registration system will ask you to verify your email address
1. Go to your email system and find an email from noreply@zfairs.com Subject: Confirm Email
  1. Note: If you don’t find the email in your inbox, check your junk mail/spam.
2. Open this email and click on the link to verify your account:

Note: If you don’t find the email, check your junk mail/spam.

You will be taken to the Judge’s Profile page.

STEP 3 – JUDGE INFORMATION

Complete the personal information.
Password is minimum 6 characters, at least 1 uppercase letter and 1 lowercase. (Suggestion: Use Ab1234 (case sensitive) as your password. This will help tremendously if you need help accessing the system on the day of the event)
If you are an educator, please enter your school or district under Employer.
Click [Save & Continue].

PLEASE WRITE DOWN YOUR USERNAME AND PASSWORD,

AS YOU WILL NEED THESE TO LOG INTO THE ONLINE JUDGING

Complete the 2^nd page and [Save & Continue]
Complete the 3^rd page and [Save & Continue].

STEP 4 – GUIDELINES AND PERMISSIONS

Read and check each of the boxes regarding guidelines on this page.
Select [Continue]

Step 5. Completion Page

You will receive an Completion email with all the pertinent information including your Username and Judging Schedule. Please read the completion page.

You will receive an email with detailed logistics prior to the event.